


Writing for Others Detectives!

by SmallTownWriter12342



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Multi, Some Fluff, Some angst, a bit of everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 32,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27963269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmallTownWriter12342/pseuds/SmallTownWriter12342
Summary: I took requests this year as a sort of Christmas gift to everyone, so here the complete list of that! (This is more of so I can keep track of them all haha!)
Relationships: Detective/Adam du Mortain, Detective/Ava du Mortain, Detective/Farah Hauville, Detective/Felix Hauville, Detective/Mason (The Wayhaven Chronicles), Detective/Morgan (The Wayhaven Chronicles), Detective/Natalie "Nat" Sewell, Detective/Nathaniel "Nate" Sewell
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. Adam and Elizabeth- Simple yet Complex

**Author's Note:**

> Request- Adam x Elizabeth Brooks (@brightningstar's detective)
> 
> Prompt #10- Come here
> 
> Hope I did her justice! ❤

It was hard for Elizabeth to exactly describe how she was feeling, and she doubted that it would ever get any easier to put in words or just to rationalize it in her head.

The past few days had been a confusing mess with the news of the bounty on her head, which did not help with already trying to grapple with Adam avoiding her after that magical night of the carnival, and then to have a strangely personal conversation with him after they left Haley’s almost out of nowhere, it was enough to send her head in a spin.

But this, however, might take the cake.

With the bounty, it would only seem obvious that Unit Bravo would be around more than they already were, given to how they already had stuck around more with the threat of only Murphy, and now with the even larger one of every trapper and whoever else who could make a quick buck, it was not something that surprised her.

However, with the team still having to do patrols, only one member at a time would normally be available to be with her, at least for now.

And who had volunteered to do it first?

Adam

Because _of course_ he did

Even with the fact that he was trying to pass it all of for “her safety” or whatever, trying to offer reasons as to why _he_ had to be the one to do so, and the quickly spoken explanations as he seemed to grow more and more flustered would be almost comical if it was not so hard to ignore the sudden racing of her pulse.

Farah had wasted no time joking about all of the “rumors” that would occur with the two of them alone together, but it was hard to pay attention to that all with him agreeing to do so in the first place.

_It’s amazing really._

_The way this man just makes me forget about the word around me with the simplest of things._

But one way or another, he was now here, in her apartment.

Just the two of them.

Without any of the others.

He had not said a word since walking into her apartment, finding his spot next to one of the front windows and staying so still, he might as well have just been a statue in the front of her apartment, his grey shirt almost blending into the light gray walls behind him.

After that conversation at Haley’s, Adam almost seemed to come before closed off then he already was, his icy green eyes harder than they normally were, without a hint of softness in them, something that Elizabeth was finding that she missed dearly.

She was tired of this, every step forward just becoming ten steps backward, but there was not much that she felt like she could do. No matter how much many times she begged him not to leave, he always did, taking her breaking heart with him.

_Do you know how this feels?_

_You must, surely you do._

And for so long, she thought it was worse to have him so far apart, leaving with the crushing feeling of being alone without the presence that, and as strange as it was to her, she was starting to rely on it.

But it was even worse to have him not even ten feet away from her, but to be so far apart all the same. He had never put such a distance between them, even over the last month it had never gotten this bad.

There was nothing she could do however. He was far to set in his ways for anything to change now, that being something that he would have to do himself, and he seemed hardly interested in doing so.

The plan was when she got home was to get straight to work on some last-minute paperwork, but that was the last thing on her mind right now, it sitting untouched on her kitchen table. She instead ran her fingers absentmindedly around the rim of her coffee cup, it having been emptied a while ago, but it was all that she could manage to do at this point.

Elizabeth tried to think of anything that would break the silence, and she finally got the nerve to look up at him from where she had sat down in her living room, to find he was already gazing at her, and as steely as it was, there was something deeper there as well.

_A thousand words left unspoken, never to see the light of day._

_Something I think we both have._

And while she did not foresee this changing anytime soon, words started to fill her lips anyway before she could stop them, standing up and brushing down her blazer before, turning back to face him.

“Can you come here?”

Simple words, and yet she was unsure just how exactly how he would react to them, or even why she really asked that question. Maybe it was her last-ditch effort to try and not have them feel so far apart. She felt her shoulders tense, and she silently chided herself for letting the impulsive streak that she seemed to have get ahead of her, bracing for the worse.

But the worse never came.

Instead, what happened next still left her breathless whenever she thought about it later, almost as if it was just her imagination and it was not what actually happened.

Adam actually moved from the spot that he had claimed, and while he did still keep his distance, the fact that he had moved at all made her breath catch, but she did her best to try and give him a smile.

“Do you need something, Detective?”, he asked, one of his light eyebrows raising, a short glimpse of concern in his expression that went away so quickly that she almost missed it.

It took her a second to answer, anything that she thought of seeming you to die on her tongue, but she finally managed to say something, “No, I’m fine”

She took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m more worried about you”

“About me?”, he scoffed, as if that was the most ridiculous thing that he had ever heard, “You have no reason to be worried over me”

It took all that she had to try and stop herself from firing off a million questions.

_After everything that you have told me?_

_How it is obvious that you blame yourself for what happened to your family?_

_Why on earth would that be something you can’t comprehend?_

But she bit if all back, and she gave him a smile, something he did not seem to be expecting, and his tense shoulders seemed to almost relax at the sight of it, if only slightly.

“If you ever need to talk about anything, you know I’m here, right?”, Elizabeth almost whispered, breaking eye contact with him as she did so.

Adam said nothing in response to that, and she felt herself sigh, and while she was not sure what she was expecting, it still stung anyway, and she started to move away.

“I know”

She spun around to face him, and saw the slightest hint of a smile on his lips, something that seemed to only be directed toward her.

It may have been two words, and to some people, it may have not been evidence for much at all, but she knew the volumes behind it.

_So simple, but yet so deep still_

A smile lifted her own lips in return, one so bright that it crinkled her eyes, and while there was not much more spoken, nothing more was needed.

_And it’s enough._


	2. Nate and Lorelei "Lori"- Undying Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Nate and Lorelei "Lori" Lin (@gloynporslen's detective)
> 
> Prompt #49- "I don't want to screw this up"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Lorelei had been thinking about tonight for the last week.

Even with the piles of work that never seemed to quite shrink on her desk, it had always never failed to find the forefront of her mind, but she supposed she should not be surprised by that. Even the thought of Nate made her pulse race in a way that she had never quite felt before.

He had brought the idea of another true, real date to her, something that they had really not had the chance to have since the carnival, when they finally made their relationship, well, official.

And ever since then, one fear had dominated her mind, as much as she tried to push it away.

But the longer it went on, the harder and harder it was becoming to.

She wanted desperately to not ruin tonight with her own slew of doubts, but the constant begging of them to just be _quiet_ , had done nothing to stop them.

It also dawned on her on how strange of feeling it was to be trapped between. Part of her wanted this to last forever, fully embracing the warmth and tenderness of a softer romance, something that she was starting to realize that she never truly had before.

But part of her knew, the nagging voice of it never fully going away.

_He’s going to tire of you and leave._

_What do you have that’s truly worth sticking around for?_

The thoughts had been there in her head for a while, but putting an actual name on their relationship had made them even worse. And try as she might, she had not found a way to finally get them to quiet.

All she could at the moment was to try and enjoy what she had now.

Because to love this deeply is better then to never love at all, right?

_That’s at least what I’m going to keep telling myself, anyway._

Lorelei stopped brushing her recently cut hair in the mirror, and she turned to look at the flower arrangement that she had made with Nate a few days ago, still as bright as they when she had first put them in the vase. Something that always enjoyed doing in her spare time was making bouquets of flowers, and considering the way that she tended to dress, with floral dresses and blouses, that was likely a surprise to no one.

What had always fascinated her was the flower meanings. There was something special about them, and it always made her smile when she realized that was also something that he was interested in as well.

Each one of them was special to her, but one that had always stuck out to her was the tulip, and she mused over its meaning in her head.

_Tulips- deep love_

It had been a favorite flower for as long as she could remember, but there was something even more special about it now. Perhaps that was because what she was feeling now.

_Despite the doubts, despite everything else._

_You can’t deny to yourself that you aren’t head over heels for this man._

But before she could do anything else, she heard the faint sound of the doorbell ringing, and she quickly ran her hands through her hair and down her dress in a last-ditch effort to try and look as presentable as she could before going to open the door.

Sure enough, it was Nate, wearing a green shirt with the sleeves rolled up, having shed his leather jacket with the fast approaching to summer. He had it unbuttoned relatively low, something that she was not going to complain about. His brown eyes were as gentle as ever, and while he might forever tower over her, it was something that she had quickly grown used to.

“Missed me?”, she winked, a wide grin forming on her lips. The quick flirtatious banter was easy to her, something that she had gotten used to doing.

He chuckles lightly, moving forward to gently run his fingers through her hair, his voice soft, but a great weight behind it anyway, “I believe you know the answer to that question”

“I do”, she said, moving forward toward him, her hand reaching out to his arm, “And I’m all yours tonight Agent”

Nate took her silent invitation, and moved closer himself, bending sightly to be more at his eye level, “And I would want nothing more, Lěinà”

She normally would have answered something just as heated in return, but his overall care would sometimes catch her off guard. She was not used to anyone doing so for her, almost as if they expected her to act boldly in order to keep them around, but that never mattered to him. He just seemed to like her, for well, who she was.

_It’s definitely not something that I am fully used to._

_But I’m not complaining._

Trying hard to hide the blush that had grown on her face, thought from Nate’s sudden bright smile, that attempt was futile, she reached out her hand for him to take it, “You ready?”

“I don’t think I’ve been more so”, he whispered, an almost husky tone in his voice, the faint hints of a smolder on his face, and he grasped her hand, taking the opportunity to entwine their fingers together.

Throwing him one last smile, the two of them made their way out her apartment building, their sides brushing together from how close they were to each other.

And while it was warm in the summer, with the sun now setting, the night was almost cool, and if it were not for Nate’s warmth next to her, she might have almost been cold. A symphony of colors seemed to completely cover the sky, the light blue of the day being nowhere in sight.

But her surroundings were hardly what Lorelei was paying attention to at the moment, all of her attention on the man next to her as they made their way down the concrete paths of Wayhaven. And it seemed that she was not the only one either, since he never looked away from her either, gazing at her in a way that she had never had been before, and desperately never wanted it to end.

“Where are you taking me, exactly?”

“And ruin the surprise?”, he said, his eyes almost seeming to gleam in the remaining sunlight.

She lightly scoffed, but there was no malice behind it, “Just what do you have planned, Nate?”

He gave her a charming smile, and gently squeezed her hand tighter, “You’ll see. It won’t be much longer”

“Keeping me on my toes, aren’t you?”, she asked, moving to stand to her tiptoes, grabbing the side of his shirt with his free hand.

As if he did so without thinking, he bent down to the lightest peck on her lips before moving away, a small tease of the intense feeling in every kiss they had, and she almost whined at the loss, and she saw a wide smirk go across his face, and he gestured to her left.

Gently untangling his hand from hers, he went off the known path into where the woods were back to back against the town, and she slowly followed him, not quite sure where he was taking her.

“What are you doing?”

“Trust me”, Nate said, still smiling just as brightly as he was earlier, and she knew that she already did, deeper than she ever felt for anyone before.

She went to stand against his side, and he pulled back one of the branches to a deeper apart of the woods, something that completely covered the view from the sidewalk.

And even though she had lived in Wayhaven for her entire life, this was something that was quite unexpected.

She entered first, Nate having to duck down in order to do so, and she felt her breath catch as she looked the small area that was made by the branches. It was almost like a sanctuary in the middle of the woods, summer flowers curling over the branches and scattered all over the ground, and the last hints of sunlight were peaking through them. There was not much space beside the two of them, not that was something that she could complain about.

“When did you find this?”, she turned to face him, astonishment clear on her face, “I had no idea this was here”

He shrugs, but the pride in his tone was unmistakable, “On patrol a few days ago. I thought you would like it”

“It’s _very_ romantic”, Lorelei lightly teased, moving closer to him then she already was in order to lay her hand on his jacket, allowing the warmth of him under her fingers to be all that she was thinking about, “I _love_ it”

As if he neither of them could wait any longer, they both leaned in for the kiss, the taste from earlier finally having been fully satisfied. The two of them stood as close as they could, tightly grabbing each other as if the other would disappear if they did not.

And as his lips covered hers, she knew that she found herself in heaven.

_A heaven I’ll never find again._

She was not sure exactly when they broke apart, but the two of them stood, both quite breathless, leaning their foreheads together, at the least the best that they could do given their height difference.

“I’m never going to get tired of doing that”, she said, her voice barely above a whisper, the words coming out before she could stop herself and she averted her eyes from his gaze at the realization of it.

_I know I won’t._

_And I hope he won’t either_

_But isn’t that too much to wish for?_

Like he could notice her hesitation, he, gently so she could pull away if she wanted, cupped her face in his hands and turned it to look at him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be either”, he smiled so wide it made the edges of his eyes slightly crinkle, “As long as you’re here, there is no place I’d rather be”

Those _declarations_ , something that she was still not all quite used to, and doubted she ever would be. The true honesty of it all, nothing about his feelings being hidden at all, even if parts of him still were to her.

_Soft gestures, purely romantic._

_All that I’ve never had before, and I really don’t want to lose._

And one thing that he seemed to draw from her was her own honesty, parts of herself that she fought so hard to keep that way, but it was becoming harder and harder to do around him. It was like he drew it from her without even having to try, as unfair as it was.

It was no different this time, so lost in the moment and his eyes, that she whispered the words that she only had said in her head up to this point.

“I don’t want to screw this up”

Nate’s eyes widen at the statement, and he opened his mouth to say something, but it was not fast enough for the sudden flurry of words that seemed to overwhelm her.

“It’s nothing”, she quickly said, “Forget I said anything, it’s not a big dea- “

Before Lorelei could keep rambling on, his hands reached out to gently grasp her wrists, and it was enough to bring her back to the here and now.

“As long as you wish”, he whispered, his voice falling over her smoother, “I’ll be by your side. Through the easiest and the hardest of times”

She started at him, absolutely speechless for a second, and with any thing that she could think of to say seeming to fall short, she leaned forward to kiss him again, moving her lips over his to deepen the kiss as much as she could, something that he seemed to understand the meaning of.

The two of them seemed to melt into each other, the whole world disappearing as if they were the only two people in the world, their love all that mattered, not caring about the quickly approaching night.

And as the two of them made their way back to her apartment, planning to spend the night together there, all of her doubts seemed to fall away, if even just a moment. She believed him, wholeheartedly, and she knew that her trust in him would never change.


	3. Nate and Devon "Dev"- My Heart Aches for You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Nate and Devon "Dev" Kang (@starlessvoids's detective)
> 
> Prompt #35- "Do you regret it?" and #49 (more in spirit) "I don't want to screw this up"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Devon was not sure what kept her hanging around Wayhaven in the first place.

It was not like she particularly liked her job, either before or after she became a detective. It was more of a remainder everyday of her own shattered plans for the future she wanted.

Her dream of becoming a lawyer had never seemed more like a dream now, all that she work she had done had been destroyed by her downward spiral after her disastrous breakup with Bobby.

And while it was not the only reason for it, the revelation of his betrayal had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. It opened up old wounds that she had buried down deep after leaving high school, trying to better herself and get out of the delinquent role that she had found herself in.

This had worked, and she had been so _happy_ to be able to reinvent herself far away from town, somewhere different from home, where everyone knew her name and face. Be the person that she strived to be, and not have to worry about everyone’s expectations for her.

But that was all ruined, the few years of careful progress that had been made destroyed in an instant, and the old feelings started to come back to her again.

It did not help at all that the people that she turned to in her emotionally vulnerable state were her old high school friends, who had not stopped doing their smaller crimes while she was away. And once she was back, she got sucked right back into it, nothing more serious then tagging and vandalism, as if she needed to find semblance of herself. It was something that Devon knew, and getting back into it made her at feel at home. Safe. As if what happened with Bobby had never happened.

That did not last forever, unfortunately. It was not long afterwards when she got arrested, and at first it seemed like Captain Sung was adamant on getting her to spend a few months in jail, but this suddenly changed with an offer, still not knowing exactly what changed his mind.

_“You got two options. Either join the police force, or you’ll have to do jail time”_

The proposal was certainly strange, and it completely caught her off guard. But as much as she really did not want to become a police officer at all, there did not seem like there was many other options, was there?

And so, she agreed to join, as unhappy as she was about it. The next few years were the longest and the shortest in her life, almost seeming to fly by from the monotony of it, while each day seeming to last forever, uneventful, with nothing to look forward to in the future and there never would be.

But even so, the sudden promotion to detective was something that surprised her, but after watching Detective Reele do her “detective” work for the past few years, it did not seem like it would be anything different then what she was already doing.

_Well, weren’t you wrong about that?_

During her first official day as detective of Wayhaven was when the first murder happened, and while it was certainly not what she was expecting then, it was pale in comparison to how much her life would change from that point on.

For starters, her mother, if she could even call her that after being absent for the majority of her life, came to town, expecting to be able to just _waltz_ in like nothing had ever happened, and she was not going to stand for that, having no trouble letting her know that.

The change that her mother had suddenly made, as if she was trying to fix their relationship after all of these years, still surprised her. But after so long alone, there was not one thing that she wanted from her, and Devon was sure that she had made up her mind on that.

Learning about the supernatural and all of it beyond that had been pretty intimidating at first, but she was slowly starting to ease herself into it. She may not fully trust the Agency, but it was hard to deny that she did not want to learn more about the world that she had no idea about for so long.

But what had really threw her for a loop? Something that she still marveled at even now, months later?

Meeting Unit Bravo.

But more specifically, one _particular_ member.

Agent Nate Sewell

From the start, she always felt this draw to him, though she was not completely sure why. His overall openness (even if that was looking more and more like an illusion as time went on) and his gentle eyes about made her forget everything else.

Even with her initial butting heads with Adam, which was something that had really not changed over time, he had always just been _there_ for her, with a kind word and unspoken reassurance, something that she had never had before.

_And something that I desperately do not want to lose._

It was crazy to her, the way that he made her feel like a lovesick teenager, never having felt like anyone before. The way that he had _saw_ something in her of all people, the closed off person that she knew she could be, was still astonishing to her. Despite not really knowing what he thought was special about her, there was one thing going through her mind.

_I don’t want to screw this up._

_And to figure out more of what “this” is._

Devon shook her head slightly in order to get that train of thought out of her head, and she turned to look up at Nate, who seemed fully engrossed in the book he was reading. The two of them were doing so late-night research in the library, a book open in her own lap. He had an arm gently draped around her shoulders, the casual intimacy becoming something that was becoming more and more common between them.

The fact that they were dating at all was still mind-blowing to her, since she had always had trouble with commitment, but _that_ man. Forget any trouble that she had with that. She wanted nothing more to be by his side for as long as she could.

She continued to gaze up at the man who had and always would tower over her, and she felt the hint of a smile form on her lips.

As if he knew she was doing so, Nate turned, his eyes seeming to glimmer in the dull candlelight of the room, “What are you thinking about, Dev?”

“What?”, she asked, not expecting that question at all, her response evident of that.

“I can see you’ve been contemplating something for a good time now”, he said, moving so their sides were even more so pressed together, a gentle smile going across his face.

And as much as she wanted to tell him everything that was going through her mind, knowing no one else who she would ever feel the need to do so, the words got caught in her throat. Being so honest with someone was still something that she was not used to, even with feeling like she wanted to.

But the desire to say _something_ came over her, and the words came out before she could stop herself.

“Do you regret this?”

She almost outwardly groaned at herself once she realized what she said, and she watched Nate’s face go from at first confusion, to stunned realization, which made her heart lurch at the sight of it.

Like always however, Nate seemed to always know what to say, a talent that she sorely lacked.

“Remember our date at the carnival?”, he began, which she managed a weak nod to, “I told then I wanted it to be more then just one date. And I still believe that now”

“For as long as you want to”, he said, his voice growing to an almost whisper as he continued, moving closer till he was just inches away from her face, “I’ll have you with me. There is nothing that would make me happier”

Devon felt her breath catch as he gently rested his forehead on hers, and she did the same in return, “I may have some regrets, Dev, but _this_ is not one of them, and it will never will be”

What the hell was she supposed to say to _that?_

The soft words, words that she had never been told by anyone before, and she doubted she would ever find again.

And the dripping _honesty_ of it all, just being his truthful self, never failed to leave her breathless, and all she could do was stare at him, watch the brown eyes that she had come to adore so much look at her in a way that she never been looked at before.

Nate moved forward, and he tenderly caught his lips in a kiss, something that readily accepted, getting lost in him, the kiss gentle, but full of need, as if there was a message in it, a promise to never leave her behind.

Though part of her thought she was being irrational, just opening up to let herself get hurt in the end, but that hardly felt like it mattered now. She might not ever be the best at saying how she felt or even expressing it, but as long as he was here, she would do her best to try to.

_It is what he deserves after everything he has done for me._


	4. Mason and Asteria- A Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Asteria Otieno (@mrs-raleighcarrera's detective)
> 
> Prompt #25- "I want an answer, goddammit!” and Prompt #40- “I never stood a chance, did I?”
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Asteria gently pulled her strawberry-blonde hair out of her ponytail, letting it flow freely down her back as she walked into the warehouse.

The recent mission had her head still spinning, and all she wanted to do was to collapse in her room, take her contacts out and hope her mind would calm enough to sleep.

She and Mason were supposed to just try and open a diplomatic meeting between the Agency and the rogues. And as far as they knew, that had gone well. Exactly the way that they and the higher-ups would have wanted.

Then why did it feel like it something was missing?

Turning to Mason as the two of them walked into the social room at the warehouse, the million words on her lips seeming to die at once. She had expected the others to be there waiting for them when they got back, but the other three members of Unit Bravo were nowhere in sight.

_That’s strange_.

But even so, her brain quickly rationalized that they were probably somewhere else, that being the last thing on her mind right now. 

Tonight, for better or for worse, had her finally looking at her relationship with him in general, and what the hell that could mean for the future.

_And what even is that?_

Ever since meeting him, Asteria had enjoyed the flirtatious banter between them, something that he always seemed to return just as well. But it never went further than that.

Simply, she wanted _more_ , feelings in their relationship, a promise to never let the other go, the whole nine yards. She had resigned herself a long time ago that this would never be something that she would get from him, and as hard as that was to accept, it was necessary.

_No point pining for someone who has no intention in something long term in the first place._

And just at the point that she finally had accepted that, everything seemed to reveal itself all at once.

There was something different, something changed. A semblance of care, in his own way. Something that she never would have believed there would ever be before. She had no idea what to do with it, but for the time being, she was going to leave it as it was. Getting her hopes up was the last thing she wanted to do.

_Or actually fall for him._

_But I might have already failed that._

Now, she was struck with a realization, a realization that she never thought she would ever have.

_He truly doesn’t know what this is, or what he is feeling._

Tensions were already running high after they managed to make contact with the rogues. She may not have been a vampire, but even she could notice the tense atmosphere in the air, so thick that it could likely shatter glass.

Mason had been, the only way to describe it, _protective_. A side that she had never seen of him before, and one, that he truly wanted a fling and nothing else, did not make sense to her why he would act that way at all.

And try as she might, she was hardly able to get it to herself as they made there way back to the warehouse.

“ _Is it ever going to mean something?”_

The question had seemed to catch him off guard, and she noticed the slightest bit of uncertainty on his face before it was buried again with a sneer. The question had come out before she really meant it to, but she was not going to take it back. There was the desire to just _know_ , try to understand what was going on in his head.

_“What are you talking about?”_

He had scoffed out the words, but in the deeper part of his voice, there was the side that _did_ know exactly what she was referring to. Asteria wished then she was better at reading at people, knowing that someone better at it then her could probably see more in his steely gray eyes then she could.

_“You know what I mean”_

She had continued as calmly as the frustrated part of would allow, and she never looked away from him, even though he seemed to be doing everything to avoid looking at her.

_“What do you want me to say?”_

_That_ was enough for every single amount of self-control she had to fall away

_“I just want an answer, goddammit!”_

Mason’s eyebrows raised in surprise, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he turned away, as her heart felt like it had collapsed in her chest.

What did she really expect in the first place? For him to confirm that there was? She knew him better than that by now. It would go against everything that she knew about him.

But what he said after a few minutes of silence still shocked her even now, and it something that was still hard for her to believe actually happened.

_“I don’t know”_

Asteria had turned to stare at him, not fully convinced that was what he actually said and it was not just her own imagination, but the words seemed to repeat over and over in her head anyway.

It was not much at all, barely a clue of anything.

So why did it mean so much to her?

The two of them did not speak a word to each other the rest of the ride back, and now they were here, in the social room, a thousand words to say, but nothing actually spoken.

_But perhaps, one day there will be._

“You guys are back!”, broke it a sudden voice to the quiet room besides the cracking of the fireplace, and she turned to see the other members of the Unit, led by Farah, who made their way over to them.

She remembered discussing the basics of the mission, but it all went by in a blur, and she left as soon as she could, needing to clear her head.

And the tried-and-true place that she always came back to was the warehouse roof, overlooking the stars. It was quiet, and while it may have left her alone with her thoughts, it was far better then having to go through them in front of others.

A cigarette hung loosely in-between her fingers, and she moved to light it before bringing it to her mouth, letting the smoke curl around her face. Smoking was an unfortunate vice of hers, something that she always ended up doing while stressed, as much as she tried to resist the urge.

It brought her back to a semblance of normalcy, something that she desperately needed right now, and as she looked out over the baloney, she felt the faint hint of a smile form on her face.

_This place is starting to feel more and more like home, isn’t it?_

In her distracted state, she barely noticed that someone else had come up to the roof at well until they were standing next to her.

_Mason_

He gave her the quick hints of a smirk, his eyes going to the cigarette in her hand, which she returned.

“You are the last person who can say anything to me about this”, she said, to which he gave an almost low chuckle to.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart”, he replied, and the desire to say what was in her head was never greater then now, but she pushed it down.

_There will be a time for that._

_Too much we both don’t know yet_

But as she looked back up at him, there was one truth that she knew

_I never stood a chance, did I?_

Whether she would ever understand why she was drawn to him was irrelevant. They were here now, were they not?

“Why did you come up here?”, she asked, almost cursing herself for what had to be a stupid question, but at least outwardly, Mason did not seem to think so.

“It’s peaceful”, he shrugged, almost as if it was obvious.

“Even with me up here as well?”

“Especially then”, he whispered, an almost smolder covering his face.

She blinked in surprise, from the honesty, but she gave him a full smile, something she so rarely gave anyone.

The two of them spent the rest of the night together, and while the future between them may have never looked more confusing, there was one thing that was ringing true for her, what she would have never dared to believe in before.

_Hope_


	5. Farah and Eleanor "Ellie"- I Love You Truly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request- Farah and Eleanor "Ellie" Langford (@elliesgaymachette/farahauvile's detective)
> 
> Request- #27- "Tell me Again"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Wayhaven had always been Eleanor’s home, and it was something that she never wanted to change.

It was comforting to her, being with the people she had known for her entire life, the small community almost feeling like extensions of her own family sometimes. It was where she felt like she could be herself, and she had no desire to ever leave it behind.

And while that was not different now, she was starting to find a new meaning to the word “home”.

She looked around her small apartment, the warm gray couches accented by the yellow pillows and the overall bright decorations of the room, giving the whole place a feel of a small cottage in the middle of the woods, somewhere safe and warm.

There was no doubt it was home, and she had long believed it could not get to better than this. She knew where she belonged, what could be better? Of all the places in the world, this small town was where she was meant to be.

But there was one thing, one thing that she only had dreamed of finding, almost giving up on finding it all before it came up on her when she least expected it.

_It found you anyway, didn’t it?_

Unit Bravo was the last place that she would have thought it would be, but obviously, life had other plans. As if the stars truly aligned all at once, finally making sense to her for the first time.

The person that the stars had found? Even, as she had learned, across literal worlds?

_Farah_

Eleanor could feel her face erupt in a smile without really thinking about it, a rush of pure _happiness_ going over with just the thought of her.

Over the past few months, she realized that she was happiest she had ever been, everything about their relationship simply being _easy._ Easy to love and to give that love in return. As if she had always been there, or at least she should have been.

And so, when Farah came to her the morning after what had to been the best kiss that she had ever known, telling her how much it had meant to her, she wasted no time in making their relationship official. What was the point of waiting when she was sure on what she felt? Isn’t it best to let her feelings speak honestly?

She had believed that those feelings would never feel deeper than she did at that moment. Already in so deep, but with no desire to pull herself out now.

_But how wrong I was._

They had only grown over time, the bond between the two growing stronger and stronger each passing day, and the longer they were together, it showed her something.

_I’ve heard people call a person their home._

_The person that makes them feel safe, included, special._

_And after never really having that before, I think I found it._

Farah was the one that she could spend hours talking to, whether about what had happened in their days, or whatever random thing came to her mind. She was like coming home to a warm cup of a tea during a cold day, the warmth and smiles from her never failing to lift her spirts, and something she did everything to return.

She was Eleanor’s home, something that she never realized her life was missing before she met her. There was no searching that she had to do to find her, instead she found her.

_And right in the time that it was supposed to._

The rest of her life, all the plans in her head, all included Farah without her even having to think about it. It just came naturally to her, wanting her in her life forever. Someone to stay with her, someone to laugh with her forever, share those sweet moments with, kiss until her lips turned blue.

_How love ought to be._

She looked around her apartment again, her long curly hair out of its messy bun, cascading to the middle of her back. Over the past few months, she had found herself wearing her hair down more and more, no longer feeling like she had to have her hair up at all times. Even though she would consider herself a pretty easygoing person, Farah just continued to pull that side from her, with a bright, lazy grin and with the most infectious laugh she had ever heard.

It was a peaceful day, nowhere to go beside here, work not calling either of them off, and he was grateful for it. It had been way too long since she felt like she could _breathe._ Without work from both her job as a detective and her new job as an Agency liaison piling up on her.

Eleanor looked down at her guitar on her lap as she sat in one of her plush armchairs, with its hand-painted sunflower at the base that curled up to the neck. It was a skill that she had spent years improving, being mostly self-taught from just figuring out what sounded good together and what did not. It was something that she always did when she needed to unwind, letting her fingers lazily strum on the strings while occasionally changing the chord.

She was so distracted, in fact, that she jumped slightly when Farah came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, moving to give a peck of a kiss on the edge of her temple.

“Hey babe!”, she said cheerily, with a smile so wide it made her eyes crinkle, something that she never wanted to wipe off her face.

“Hello to you too”, she chuckled, moving to give her a kiss on her forehead, one of her favorite spots to kiss her. She was a full foot taller than Farah, and while she normally tried to avoid using her height as an advantage, this was one thing that she would wholeheartedly use it for.

“It’s been pretty amazing having you around today”, she continued, taking her guitar off her lap in order to get closer to her

“Happy I stuck around?”, Farah joked, her amber eyes seeming to gleam in the afternoon sunlight that was pouring in through the front windows of her apartment.

“I think you know the answer to that”, Eleanor whispered, a serious tone in her voice, moving her head to rest on hers, her skin tingling from the warmth.

“I do”, she whispered in return, a smaller, more genuine smile on her face, “But how about you tell me again?”

Eleanor contemplated that for few seconds, but nothing that she could put into words could possibly compare to what she was really feeling, nor did she think it ever would.

So, she leaned closer, and caught her lips in a kiss, hoping that would enough to convey everything that she could possibly put in words.

And it seemed she did as Farah took the kiss fully in return, and the taste of her, so sweet and familiar, all that she cared about. Her eyes might have been closed, but she knew that she was looking at the gorgeous person that she would ever see.

The two of them spent the next few minutes like this, every time they broke apart just the beginning of another kiss, words not spoken but understood anyway, the euphoria in both of them speaking far more than words ever could.


	6. Felix and Lucas- Forever Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Felix and Lucas Kingston (@lilyoffandoms's detective)
> 
> I kind of forget to put the prompt in this, and I really can't figure out a way to add it in haha!
> 
> But I hope I did them justice! :D

The small bar at Wayhaven always felt clogged with life despite its size, way too many people pressed together to be to his liking.

Muted, hazy lights seemed to cover the room in a dull blanket, the brightest lights in the whole place were the small neon signs next to actual bar. Lucas himself had not been here many times except the few times that Tina had dragged him here, and his initial opinion had not changed.

But the reason he was here now? Even if this might not have been his scene in the slightest?

Felix

He had invited him out here because Lucas knew it was something that he would enjoy, even if his idea of a date would probably be different. It was not like Felix had ever been able to experience something like this before, and it seemed only fair that he should be able to get that chance, even if he was not keen on the idea himself.

_Any way to see him smile, right?_

A few minutes ago, Felix had left to go get drinks, and he had stayed behind at the booth, not really wanting to push through the crowds of people just yet. But he could still see him from where he was, and that ever present smile was alight on his face as he watched him.

And even with everyone else there, Lucas only had his eyes on one person, like a shining light in the room, a light that never seemed to go away, nor would he ever wish it to.

The past few months had been the slowest and quickest in his life, each day feeling long and fulfilled while also feeling like they were not quite long enough. Moments were taken when they could due to work unfortunately having to take priority sometimes, but they were more than enough.

It sometimes felt like he and Felix had always been together, or at least they should have been. He gave Lucas what he never knew he had been missing, a wide grin, a bright laugh, and just true _honesty_ in his feelings. No beating around the bush forever, just saying what he felt, as if it would be foolish to do anything otherwise.

His influence on Lucas’s life was never too far away, and his apartment was evident of that. The stark white and grey of it had slowly changed, from the colorful modern art to the amber curtains that be bought for no reason that it reminded him of his eyes. He had thought that the bright pops of color would take some getting used to, but he hardly thought about them now, as if they had been there for a few years instead of a few weeks.

Tina had found it all great teasing material as well, neve failing to point out the bright red flushes on his neck that could get as bright as his hair at times, the silly smiles that brighten his whole face, and how he became so _distracted_ when he was around, work seeming secondary around him. And as much as he had tried to discourage it, it only made her strike back harder, almost as if it was a challenge.

But at this point, he had accepted it for what it was. He supposed it was just more that had changed since Felix had been around, and well, it was a good thing. Something he just never thought he would ever have the chance to experience himself.

Being with him had awoken Lucas’s romantic side, what he had always known he had, but had kept it locked up tight, almost writing off as mere dreams then reality. Now, however? He was making it is own personal mission to sweep him off his feet, in whatever ways that he could think of.

Flowers had become a must for every date, this particular date was red carnations, one that was tucked behind Felix’s ear. It was something small, but he would be lying to say that he did not spend hours thinking about what he had not done before and the particular meanings behind them, wanting each and every one to be perfect.

Lucas had also started leaving small gifts in places that he knew that Felix would find them, and it never failed to make him smile watching the glee on his face when he found them. And not even Ava’s disapproving glare or Mason’s eye roll could stop him from doing it over and over again.

The small gestures meant so much to him, the hints of appreciation for the man that had changed his life forever.

_And in the best of ways._

“Miss me?”, said a sudden voice that he knew so well, and sure enough, it was Felix, his amber eyes seeming to glow in the light. He was not wearing his normal hat, probably due to the sweltering heat of both inside the bar and outside, and dressed in a bright yellow t-shirt and jean shorts, the way that his outfit had changed as the seasons had changed. He set the drinks down on the table, before sitting next to Lucas in the booth, swinging his legs over on top of his.

“I think you know the answer to that”, Lucas responded, moving closer to him to almost whisper it in his ear, wrapping his arms over his shoulders.

“Oh, I know”, Felix grinned, a joking grin so wide that it made his eyes crinkle, “Can’t keep away, can you?”

He chuckled, a small smile forming on his face, but a hint of seriousness in his voice, “You are the last person that I would do anything to keep away from”

Felix stared at him, almost stunned for a moment, as if he had not heard him correctly, running one of his hands down the nape of his neck, almost flustered.

“Uh, yeah, it’s the same for you”, he quickly muttered, as if he was trying to say anything at all, and Lucas continued to smile at him, something that Felix quite quickly returned, almost seeming comforted by it, it speaking more than words ever could.

The two of them each grabbed their drinks that had been sitting on the table untouched until now, and he took a sip of it, letting the slightly acidic taste fill his mouth.

As they sat together, Lucas’s eyes were then drawn to a piano in the corner. He could play himself, but it was normally something that he never told anyone. His father’s piano was one of the things that he had inherited after his death. Usually, he tried to pass it off that he kept it for that reason, the pure sentimental value of it, and for most people this was all they would ever know.

But now? He really wanted to share that he could with Felix, almost a sign of trust. Never had he revealed to this anyone before, nor did he ever have the desire to, but a lot had changed had it not?

_I’ll do it at some point._

_Not sure if this is something I would want to do around so many people around._

Regardless, he felt a smile form on his face at the thought of it, to finally tell the person who had enlightened his life so much everything that he normally would have kept hidden.

As the two of them finished their drinks, they kept stealing glances at each other, as if they could not pull their eyes away, and while they may have said nothing to each other, the wide, almost adoring look in Felix’s eyes

Lucas then opened his mouth to say something, something about how happy he was here with him tonight, but it was cut off by the sudden change in the music, going from an almost jazzy tone to almost something more of a slow dance, and it gave him an idea, letting the fact that this was not his scene at all fall away.

“So, Agent Hauville?”, he nearly purred out, and Felix’s eyebrows raised at the sound of it, “Would you have this dance?”

He swallowed hard in response, as if he was not sure what to say, but the moment of hesitation was gone as quickly as it came, and he gave Lucas a smirk, “I would be delighted, _Detective_ ”.

Climbing out from the booth, they both made it to the center of the floor where other people had gathered, and with most things, he normally preferred to do them without everyone else watching, but slow dancing was the exception, the one thing that he had no qualms in letting the whole world see the two of them.

The two of them had their hands clasped tightly as they made their way, the warmth from Felix’s hand never failing to comfort him, and once they made it to the near center, Lucas entwinned his fingers into his with his right hand, and then moved gently to place his hand on his partners waist, which he took in return, growing closer to lay a hand on his shoulder.

As the music played, Lucas barely heard it, only focusing on Felix as the two of them gently swayed, almost getting completely lost in the moment. Everyone else in the room no longer mattered, as if they were the only two people in the entire world.

And it struck him just how _lucky_ he was. To have a man like this at his side, someone so easy to love with no complications, nothing holding him back. It was more then he knew what to deal with sometimes, but it was also something that he never wanted to let go.

They had found one another in the vast unpredictableness of the world, perhaps in circumstances that he would have least expected it, but was that not the beauty of it? There was no looking that he had to do, Felix had appeared when he needed him the most, even if he was not fully aware of that at the time.

With all that the supernatural had thrown at him the past few months, and he knew that it would continue to do so, he needed this support, even if that was something that he would never say openly. And he had found it in the youngest member of Unit Bravo, who gave him more then he would ever know how to return.

_And I can only hope that I can express a fraction of how I feel about him._

_He deserves nothing less._

Hardly aware of what he was really doing, he moved closer, having to bend down slightly, and he caught his lips in a kiss, soft, gentle, but full of need, gripping him tighter almost as a plea for him not to pull away, which did not seem to be an issue at all when Felix melted right back into it, deepening it even more, and Lucas found himself in unmatched bliss.

_Something that I never want to lose_

He had been so distracted in fact, that he had not noticed that the song had ended, leaving the two of them as the only people on the floor still, and he gently broke it off, shaking his head in almost embarrassment as he realized it, but he could hardly say he regretted doing so.

Still clasping his hand tightly, Felix turned to Lucas, a bright grin on his face “Are you ready to go? You do have to be back at the warehouse early tomorrow”

“As long as you are ready to”, he replied, returning his smile, the elated feeling in his chest never dying as he looked down at him.

“Alright then”, Felix said in response, throwing him a quick wink, “Well, I’m ready when you are”

Lucas nodded, tiredness that he had buried down for finally seeming to overwhelm him, so he wrapped his arms around him, and led the two of them outside, feeling the crisp, late summer air, a good alternative to the air in the bar, and he sighed happily, Felix giving him a smile as he did so.

_And that smile is all I want to see_

The night may have not been what he would have normally planned, but there was a magical quality to it anyway, and he knew that this was a memory he would revisit as often as he could.


	7. Adam and Vivienne "Vivi"- Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request- Adam and Vivienne "Vivi" Jennings (@Bisexualdumbassstuff's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #9- You're in love with him
> 
> Hopefully I did her justice! :)

During the past few months, Vivienne had been on the biggest whirlwind of emotions in her life.

It was already enough on her plate for her very first case as a detective had to be the only murder that Wayhaven had known for years, but it seemed like it had happened years ago after everything that had happened.

Her mother, who she had always managed to keep a good relationship with, was starting to be around more and more, and she could not say that she was not thrilled by that. It was not her fault that she had to be away so much anyway, and even if many people might think it had been way too long to fix anything now, she was grateful for the effort now.

_It’s an open door for our relationship to be stronger now that I know everything._

Learning that the supernatural were not just stories told to keep children from staying out too late was difficult at first, but it was something that was becoming easier and easier to accept. They existed just as humans existed, what was really complicated about that?

Meeting Unit Bravo had also been something that had been a definite change, to both her and the rest of the town. She had grown closer to each one of them over the past few months, and it sometimes felt like they were always here, just another part of Wayhaven.

But what really kept her head spinning?

Who she could never stop thinking about, even though part of her told her it was fruitless?

Commanding Agent Adam du Mortain

From their first “official” meeting in her office, to solving the Murphy case, and to everything with the maa-alused, he had effectively captured her heart, one, that despite every time he pushed her away, Vivienne could not seem to undo her draw to him.

He may have not been the most open of people, but there was just _something_ about him, the glimpses behind the icy exterior that he tried so hard to hide. The picture of a broken man, numb by all that the world had thrown at him, as if it was the only way for him to deal with it without breaking down completely.

But over the past few months, cracks had started to appear in the ice, and the water behind it had grown more furious, as if begging for an escape. And she could see the fear in his eyes, everything that he had buried down now being forced to the surface.

And it made her want to _protect_ him, even though she knew how much Adam would scoff at that if he knew. Help him see the person that she saw, and be there for what she knew was tearing him apart.

Try as she might, there was one exchange that the two of them had, now months ago, that never seemed to fail to leave her thoughts.

_"I'm not exactly thrilled to be working with you either. Being teamed with a bunch of—"_

_"Monsters?”_

_`_ The word had rung out in the room, almost threateningly, and as much as she tried to read him, there was something that she could not figure out. How was he expecting her to react to that? How did he _want_ her to?

But she knew what she wanted to say, what she believed deep down.

_“I don’t think you’re a monster, Adam”_

Vivienne had said them then, and she still stood by her words now, as she continued to see more and more that was how he saw himself. And while she might not know the why, and perhaps never know, she knew that she did not want to feel that way anymore.

But the chance of that happening seemed to be less and less by the day. Ever since he started to talk about his past after leaving Haley’s, he almost seemed to shut himself off even more, and she did not know what to do with it.

The past month with him avoiding her had already been painful enough, but this was somehow worse. To have him so close, but yet so far away.

Through it all however, her hand is outstretched, giving him the offer to take it. It may take time, more time than she would ever wish, but she would have to be patient. And she could be so.

_All of this will make sense eventually, right?_

She stared through the glass partition at her office, watching him stand in almost guard in the front of the station, staring out the window as he always did, and she could feel herself sigh, almost regretfully.

And due to being distracted, she hardly noticed that Tina had walked into her office, turning her head to look at Adam and then back at her, an ever-growing smile on her face.

“You’ve got it bad, huh?”, she suddenly said, a joking tone in her voice, and Vivienne blinked out of surprise to sudden appearance, and shook her head slightly.

“It doesn’t matter what I have”

_Will anything actually ever change between us?_

_Or are we going to stuck in his limbo forever?_

A rare flash of seriousness crossed Tina’s face at the bluntness of her statement, “I wouldn’t say that. You’ve seen the stare he gives you? You don’t get that from just anyone”

It was hard for her to deny that, but it did leave the question that she was not sure what it all meant right now, since he seemed adamant there was nothing in-between them.

But he always seemed to draw her in anyway, and sometimes she wondered if was ever really trying to do so, as he felt that draw as well. As if subconscious knew, even if every other part of him was quickly denying it.

“I guess”, Vivienne shrugged in response, “But I don’t want to push anything. I’d rather wait until he actually wants to talk to me”

Tina’s eyes seemed to light up at that, “Oh, I know what is going on here. I had an inkling, but I wasn’t quite sure”

“And that would be?”

“You’re”, she began, annunciating the world to an extreme degree, “In love with him”

“What?!”, Vivienne blurted out before she could stop herself, “I think that’s taking things a bit too far I- “

But as she took a composed breath, it was starting to reveal to her. The deeper feeling was there, as much as she had tried to bury them.

_And one day, I hope I’ll actually be able to share them._

“He can’t deny it forever, you know”, Tina continued, “He’ll see that sooner or later”

And with that quite surprising statement, she left the room, leaving her alone, and Vivienne’s eyes went back to the where Adam stood, to find him already looking back at her.


	8. Adam and Alice- New Meanings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Adam and Alice Mortimer (@mistry-inc's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #2- "Close the door"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Alice had heard of “found family” before.

It was something that she had been told about a few times over her childhood, how a family did not have to be related to be one. Even if a person’s own was no longer in their lives, they could still have one with the people around them.

Part of her had always been fascinated with the idea, the only person in her family was her mother, who, as hard as she tried, was not in her life as much as Alice would have wanted her to. But the thought of finding others who she could consider family? An interesting thought to be sure.

But years had passed, and it seemed like that was only a dream. Going through the motions of her life, there was no evidence that it would ever happen to her, even as much as she wanted it to be.

_And weren’t you wrong about that?_

If you told her that the four Agents that walked into her office in the wake of her first case as a detective, she would have called you crazy. They were here for the investigation of the murder and that was all, fully expecting them to leave after the case was concluded.

That had not happened, however, with the mess that was Murphy and the added benefit of the supernatural seeming to flock to Wayhaven, and they had stuck around.

And it now was almost like they had been here for forever, a permanent fixture in her life, whether she liked it or not.

_Then I suppose it’s lucky I do like having them around_.

As Alice sat in the social room at the warehouse, she looked to the vampires that had slowly become quite important to them, a rare silence in that room, as if they were all enjoying each-others company in the silence (even if some of them would be less likely to actually admit to that).

Felix, who was fidgeting on the couch across from her as if he could not stay still, had quickly become like a little brother to her. She had not been able to make a friend so easily since she was little, it just being easy between them, with their similar sense of optimism and bright smiles. And while normally she was quite responsible, he had a tendency to bring out another side of her, one that had been buried down for so long that she had almost forgotten it was there.

Nate, in contrast to Felix, was in one of the plush armchairs close to the fireplace, one of his ancient tomes on his lap, his long fingers gently running over the pages as he read. She had always enjoyed being around him and learning more about him, the very little that she had at least. He was the one to turn to with about anything in the supernatural world, often having an answer or showing her the way to one, a soft smile on his face each time without fail.

And then there was Mason, leaning against one of Nate’s smaller end tables in the darkest corner of the room, almost seeming to blend into the wall behind him. Even though there was still a small part of her that still found herself intimidated by him, he definitely intrigued her, and found herself caring for him deeply, even as prickly as he could be at times. Plus, there was just something about each time he made her feel like apart of the team, almost about to melt whenever he did so.

But none of them were the person that made her heart feel like was swell as if it would burst.

That would the only one of the team was that currently not in the room, having left a little while ago, but for what, she was not sure. It often felt that there was a red string of fate between her and Adam, always drawing them back together no matter how many times he pushed her away, and try as she might, there was nothing that she could do to get him out of her mind.

Alice was honestly not sure what she really wanted to happen, or what she was expecting to happen. The best idea that she had so far was to try to ignore it, act like it did not bother her, as if that would make it all go away, but that almost seemed to make it worse. As if part of her was begging for her to say something, _anything_ about how she truly felt, an almost beg to see what she knew was there.

And it an act of part boldness in her part and part confusion of her own feelings, she left the social room behind, walking down the long hallways on the warehouse to see if there was any chance of finding him.

_Why are you doing this?_

It was like she could not help but want to see him, especially how he had been even more distant recently. And with her stubborn streak, it was probably clouding her judgment a bit.

_What do you want from this? Answers?_

_You know you’re not going to get that._

Luckily, (or perhaps not) it did not take long for Alice to find him, standing alone in the training room, almost as lost in thought.

She was not certain what exactly what she came her to say or what he would do, but that thought was far away from her right now.

“Detective”, Adam said as she entered the room, turning around to face her, “Do you need something?”

“No”, she responded, her hand instinctively moving to the charm bracelet around her wrist, fiddling with it, something she did when she was nervous. For some reason, any confidence seemed too due away at the intensity in his eyes, “Just checking in with you”

“You do not need to do so”, he scoffed, as if the notion was the most ridiculous thing, he had ever heard, “I am perfectly fine”

He then actually then had the _audacity_ to try and leave, and she noticed the vague uncertainty in his eyes, as if he was not sure on what to do, and this was his last effort in order to something.

“Close the door”

_Please don’t leave_

Adam spun around at her words, his icy green eyes growing wide in surprise, and while he did not close the door, he did not go to leave either, almost staying frozen in place.

It was more than she ever expected to have happened, and Alice took a deep breath, as if that would settle the nerves that was threatening to overwhelm her.

“I’m going to worry over you”, she began quietly, unsure of her own words, “And you know that I am way too stubborn for you to change my mind. It would be best if you would just accept that”

He said nothing in response to that, but part of the fight had seemed to have left him.

Stepping closer until they were only a few feet apart, she continued, “I’m going to be here for you in whatever way you’ll have me. And that’s a promise”

The words had come out before she could stop them, but she could not say that she regretted them.

It was hard to read Adam at the moment, but there was something _softer_ in his eyes, and she almost let herself get lost in them, feeling the hint of a smile forming on her lips.

He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever was quite quickly clamped down, and the two of them stared at each other in silence, a thousand unspoken words, but none coming to life.

Then to her surprise, a ghost of a smile appeared on Adam’s lips, “There is going to be no way to convince you otherwise, is there?”

Starstruck by that, it left her even more speechless than she already was.

_He really has got you, doesn’t he?_

“You know the answer to that”, she eventually stammered out, surprise still evident on every feature of her face.

Adam gave her one last look before leaving, her heart thundering in her chest, the moment still making her head spin, freezing her in place.

_This is certainly not going to be leaving your mind anytime soon, is it?_


	9. Adam and Lya- Melting Glacier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Adam and Lya Torriezze (@anotherbeingsworld's detective)
> 
> Prompt: #3- It's three in the morning and #29- "I'm not going anywhere
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Pitch blackness was all that she could still see, the only light at all was the vague light of the moon.

Hurriedly moved through the empty streets, the hazy dribble of rain fell around her, soaking her clothes and hair. Lya knew that she needed to get to shelter, but there seemed to be no place that she could do so, everything almost blurring together.

A sudden voice made her pause, panic continuing to fill her more and more.

_“Where are you going detective?”_

Her skin seemed to erupt in goosebumps at the sound of it, realizing it was the vampire that still continually haunted her nightmares.

_Murphy_

At the sound of it, she tried to bolt ahead, trying to put as much distance between her and the voice as she could, but it only seemed to draw closer as her pulse roared in her ears.

_“Oh, come on, you know you can’t run from me”_

She tried to call out for help, but her voice felt caught in her throat, begging that anyone would come her, knowing that she could not get out of this alone.

_I don’t think I can face him again, and certainly not alone._

Suddenly, a firm grip grabbed her arm and pulled her behind them, and though her first instinct was to try to hit that person back in the dark, thinking it was Murphy they turned around, and something was immediately recognizable

A pair of light, icy green eyes stared back at her in the dark, almost seeming to glow in the moonlight, a hint of worry in them that she was not sure it she was imagining for not.

_Adam_

Before she could say anything, wanting to tell him just how happy she was to see him, a sudden pain started to throb in the back of her head, and she felt herself fall to the ground while the figure of Adam seemed to disappear into the dark.

Lya awoke with a start, cold sweat beading down her face, breathing heavily. The room was pitch dark around her, and she moved rather ungracefully in the dark to find her lamp’s light switch, finally giving some much-needed light to her room at the warehouse, where she was staying the night.

_Another nightmare about Murphy._

_I suppose I should not be surprised, since the thought of him still terrifies me._

It had been a few months since everything had gone down, and as much as she tried to move forward, she always found herself back here, the nightmares still coming just as frequently as before. It was a memory that she could not shake, as much as she had tried to finally admit to herself that it was over, that she and the others had come out okay.

But is always made her go back to the fact that she tried to forget, that Murphy had escaped, and no one knew where he went. The Agency seemed sure that he had left Wayhaven, but it did little to calm her nerves, always expecting that he would jump out of the shadows somewhere, finally coming back for his prize.

The longer that he was gone, it only made her surer that he would be back eventually, probably when she least expected it, and with the news of the trapper’s bounty, it just looked like one more thing that could go wrong.

She flopped back on her bed, knowing that there was no possible way that she would be able to go back to sleep, at least for now. Her mind was a bit too frazzled to even consider that.

And with that possibility out of the way, the only other thing that she could think to do was to take a walk, hoping that would be enough to calm herself and finally get some rest.

Even so, the memory of what happened the last time she left her room after one of her nightmares made her pause.

_“Is that... what you really want?”_

Shaking her head to get that memory out of her head, not knowing that if she really wanted to dwell on Adam at all right now, the pain of him avoiding her after the carnival still fresh in her mind, but also knowing that pushing him at all would just make it worse.

_And I don’t think I could handle him becoming more distant than he already is._

_Surely, I can’t be the only one who feels this way._

Ever since she first started as a detective, she had always been praised for her skill for reading people, being able to deal with them with such a grace that the station had never seen before. It was something that she was proud of, even if her other skills were not as good. In a way, it was what she added to the station and now, Unit Bravo.

But try as she might, she seemed to lost all of her ability to read people around that Commanding Agent. The hot and cold, the drawing in and pushing right back out, never failed to confuse her on what he _wanted_.

_Does it even really matter if I can or not?_

_It’s not like he’d actually say so if he did._

However, she could still see into him enough to know that underneath the walls as tall and strong as a castle was a man that was hurting. Why, she was not sure, and Lya was starting to doubt that she would ever see behind them. The numbness that Adam had used to cope for so many years was starting to fall, and it left her with all of his confusing feelings, and no idea what to do with them.

She knew that there was no easy way to work this into a conversation at all without him immediately getting defensive, and so all that she could do was deal with it alone, a magnitude of words unspoken whenever they were together.

Sighing, doing her best to calm her mind as best she could and stop this line of questioning, she got up from her bed, and she made her way to the door, opening it up to the hallway.

The corridors that ran through the warehouse were dark this time of night, the only light being from almost nightlights at the bottom of the walls. Once outside of her room, she could hear the steady falling of rain, the low roar of thunder following it, her dream not the only place that it was raining.

Not sure on where she was going, she just started to make her way through the hallway, almost hoping to find one of the others. They did not need as much sleep as she did, so it was only likely they were awake.

But the almost deafening silence seemed to suggest otherwise, as if all four vampires were somehow asleep at the same time.

A sudden flurry of movement came from the library, and it made her turn at the sound of it.

_Nate?_

_He’s the only one that I can think of that would go to the library voluntarily._

_This late, at least._

Figuring she should really go see who was there, she slowly made her way to the door, almost hesitantly, as if the person would disappear as she entered.

The person there, however, was the absolute last member of the team that she would have expected to be here.

“Adam-”, Lya felt herself stammer out before she could stop herself, almost marveling at the fact that he was there at all.

He turned away from one of the only windows in the library, where he was watching the rain fall in what seemed like buckets, and he stared back at her, the only light in the room the hazy candle lights that made his eyes seem to glow.

“Ly- Detective”, he said, quickly correcting himself as she moved to stand next to him in an unexpected move of boldness from her. This correcting himself back to her title instead of her name had happened quite a few times now, even in front of the others, but it never failed to make her pulse race.

“What you doing here?”, he asked, trying to continue as if nothing had happened, “It’s three in the morning”

“Couldn’t sleep”, she shrugged in response, even though she knew that he could probably sense how tense she was, “And I could say the same to you”

He raised his eyebrow at that, “Why?”

“I wouldn’t put the library as somewhere you would typically spend your time”

Adam gave an almost half-nod to that, as in almost agreement, “I suppose that is fair”

Silence seemed to fall between them after that, so much to say to each other but neither of them actually moving to do so. It was as both of them were thinking about the last night she had come this late, and the way that had ended was making them both pause, like a desperate plea for that to not happen again.

“Do we have any new leads on the kidnapping case?”, she said suddenly, more as a way in order to fill the silence that had fallen between them, trying to repress a groan when she realized what she had said. It was the first thing that came to mind that she knew she could talk about without him pushing away, but it still felt pathetic.

He seemed to straighten at the question, almost as if he was relieved by her asking it, not noticing how awkward she had become about it.

“Unfortunately, no”, he said, a tinge of regret in his voice, “But hopefully, once we get some the test results back, we’ll know more”

“I thought you got results back in a few hours?”, Lya asked, trying to hide a laugh in her words, “That’s what you told me anyway”

A flicker of amusement crossed his face, “It is a bit harder when we don’t know exactly to look for in the first place”

“That’s true”, she replied, a smile forming on her face, and she felt herself almost sigh at the easy moment between them, something that did not happen often.

“Do you think this will all turn out okay?”, she then said, kind of expecting what his answer would be, but feeling like she should ask it anyway.

An actual uncertain look on his eyes surprised her, but Adam seemed to shove that down as soon as it appeared, “We’ll ensure it”

“Good”, Lya replied, unable to hide a grin from the confidence in his voice, even if she was not sure if he truly believed them herself, “Of course, we’ll have all of this piled with the trapper’s bounty. As if we really cannot catch a break”

_The team has my back, I don’t think I’ll be alone it in all_

_Or at least, I hope they do_

“I really don’t want to go through this alone”, she then whispered, way more to herself then to Adam, almost forgetting that he would be able to hear her say it.

“I’m not going anywhere”

She felt herself blink hard at the strength in his words, being the possible last thing that she expected.

But she also believed it wholeheartedly.

“I mean- we aren’t going anywhere”, he tried to swiftly correct himself, but it did nothing to calm her racing heart, “You are part of this team”

“Yeah, I know”, Lya nodded in return, giving him a smile, something that she was surprised to find that he actually returned, “We’re in this together, after all”

_The team and us two, yes._

_But also, the two of us_

_I’d like to believe that anyway_

“Of course,”, he stated simply, and a comfortable silence fell between them, as thought they were enjoying each-others company. The unspoken words no longer mattered, and for now, this was more then both of them could ever hope for.

“I should try and get some sleep”, she finally felt forced to say, since she believed if she did not say something now, “I’ll see you in the morning”

Adam gave her the slightest nod of agreement, and she went to leave, feeling his eyes watch her as she went. It sent tingles up her spine, and she turned around to give him one last smile before leaving completely.


	10. Mason and Isobelle "Belle"- Tender Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Isobelle "Belle" Bennett (@rookitcarrera's detective)
> 
> Could not get a prompt to work with this one!
> 
> But I hope I did her justice! :D

Besides her flashlight, the moon was Isobelle’s only light in the dark of Wayhaven’s streets.

The summer night was quiet, the only sound to be heard was the low chirping of crickets, and she tried her best to focus on that noise, already being slightly on edge.

Patrolling had always been one of her favorite things to do while she was an officer, being something that she missed after her promotion to detective. But with how her last patrol had occurred, it was hard for her to truly relax tonight, even if she was more in her element now.

She still was not sure what exactly happened at the last patrol she had done, but with how Mason had reacted, something had happened, but she never got the time to figure out _what_ before she was gripped with a splitting headache.

It was still strange to her that took place, something that seemed burned in her memory even after months had passed, but even with the revelations soon afterwards that the supernatural were indeed real, an explanation of what had actually took place that night never came, and she was also sure that asking would lead her nowhere.

Due to in part due to the recent boon of supernatural presence, the team had continued to step up patrols, especially with the looming threat of the trappers. They may have seemed to have left Wayhaven, but she had the feeling they were just binding their time for the right moment to strike, perhaps when the town was expecting it the least.

And that was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

Isobelle was also supposed to not being patrolling at all tonight because of the trapper’s bounty on her head, but she supposed her stubbornness had won out in the end, even getting Adam to agree. Part of her was regretful that she had thrown all of this at the town in the first place, and wanted to show that she did care about the people that she sworn to protect. They deserved that at least.

_This town’s safety has always been my priority_

_Even with me being a liaison now._

The sudden flick of a lighter got her attention, and she looked over to Mason, smoke curling around his fingertips from the lit cigarette in his hands, and he seemed to almost give her nod as the two of them locked eyes.

In a complete whim on her part (at least, that’s what she kept telling herself), she had asked him to accompany her while patrolling, something that he surprisingly had agreed to do without so much of a scoff or an eyeroll.

Where their relationship stood was looking like it was forever going to be a mystery to her, and it left her with the desire to just _know_. They had been intimate with each other, and she had longed believed that was all it would ever consist of, and while she did not necessarily like that, it was something that she had accepted.

But a lot had changed in a short period of time, and she was not entirely sure what to do.

There was _something_ there, something softer, what she would never imagined would ever would have been between them before.

Part of her wanted to go straight in and figure out what it was, the feelings that she had buried down for so long finally being given a light.

And yet, there was also a warning that seemed to flash in her mind whenever she got too close to actually going through that idea.

_Just because you’ve caught feelings, doesn’t mean he has_

_This will just push him away._

The evidence it was there at all would have to enough for now, but it was better than nothing at all.

_Patience is a virtue, you know._

_And God I wish I was better at it._

Shaking that thought away, she looked down at her watch, and then back to Mason, “30 minutes, and then we have to go back to the others”

He gave her a nod, being quiet even for his standards. And after the hours stuck in the silence of the night, Isobelle needed anything to fill the void, so she did her best to make conversation.

“What do you think is going to happen with the trappers?”

Mason almost shrugged, not meeting her eyes, but he did move closer to her, “It is what it is. We’ll deal with it”

There was a catch in his voice, but it seemed to disappear as he continued, “You’ll be fine, sweetheart”

The small bit of confidence in her caught of her off-guard, “What makes you say that?”

“You’ve taken everything that’s been thrown at you so far”, he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “And I see no reason why you can’t do that again”

She gave him an echo of a smile, something that she knew that he could see even if the depths of the night, and the tension started to slowly roll off her shoulders.

“Growing soft for me, are you sunshine?”, Isobelle asked, her sarcastic streak the best way to covey what she was really feeling without having to come out and say it.

A light scoff came from him at that, but a faint smirk on his lips stayed anyway, “I don’t grow soft for anyone, sweetheart”

_Are you sure that’s true?_

_You have your own way._

_Not as obvious as Nate or Felix maybe, but it’s there._

_Can’t believe I almost blinded myself to it before._

“Don’t worry”, she teased, an ever-widening grin appearing on her face, “I won’t tell anyone”

Mason rolled his eyes, but the hint of amusement in them was not dampened, and she continued to move closer to him before they were just inches apart, and she forgot completely about the patrol and any trappers that could be lurking in the dark, and it seemed like he did as well, completely lost in each other.

Before she could think twice, she found her lips on his, and while she was not sure if she had kissed him first or if he had been the one to kiss her, it hardly mattered as the moved her lips to deepen the kiss, as if this would be the last time she ever would, the need evident in that.

And he seemed to have the same idea as she did, his hands tangled in her hair as he tried to hold her as close as possible, and while there was passion there, there was also something else.

_Tenderness_

She would have loved to stay like this forever, the days passing around them, as if they were the only two people in the world.

This was not fated to last that long, apparently.

“Mason”, a sudden firm voice broke the silence that had settled around them, and they broke apart to look at Adam, who was standing at the entrance of the alleyway that they had been walking down, “The rest of us are ready to leave”

“We’ll be there”, Isobelle said, trying to hide the sudden hardness in her voice, and she turned to look at Mason, “We’ll finish this later”

A smolder seemed to alight his face at that, “And I’ll hold you to it, sweetheart”


	11. Mason and Nelly- I Prefer You Before All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Nelly Greywood (@sosoleno's detective)
> 
> No prompt, kind of just freely wrote this one!
> 
> But I hope I did her justice! :D
> 
> Also note, I had this idea before what happened in the book 3 demo, but I still decided to write about it! (You'll see what I mean, if you read the demo, but there are no spoilers in this!)

When Nelly asked Mason if he wanted to spend some time together before she had to go to work, she was almost certain he would decline.

It did not seem like something that he would ever agree to, but she wanted to try anyway, even though trying to work up into asking made her a nervous wreck. Part of her just wanted to be around him, in a simple way of just being together, though it was hard to say if that was the same to him.

She knew that she had fallen hard for him, and while she had no fear of her own feelings, trying to read his own never failed to be one of the difficult things she had ever encountered. Clinging onto the hope that there would something between them, she also realized that there was a _difference_ in how he had been even a few months ago.

Of course, Mason was still could be a bit rough around the edges, there was no denying that, but there was a certain care, in his own way, that she had not seen before. And while she tried desperately not to get her hopes up, seeing things there when in fact there was nothing, it was getting more and difficult not to.

And while she wanted nothing more then to dive right in and make their relationship physically intimate, she did have enough self-preservation to know that if she did so, it would, at least for now, mean much more to her then it would mean for him, and Nelly was not sure she would be able to handle the fallout from that.

But even still, he never failed to make to make her pulse race like no one had ever had before, a blush always seeming to form on her face whenever he was around her. Ironically, it was _him_ , who had awoken the helpless romantic in her, something she thought was dead after her breakup with Bobby. But it was there, binding its time, and she had no choice to take it as it came and do her best moving forward.

Speaking of her pulse racing, it was hard for her to think of a time where it had actually been faster when Mason actually agreed to go with her, not an eyeroll or a groan accompanied with it, almost said as if him agreeing was the most obvious choice in the world.

Plus, he had been quick to accompany that with a flirtation, his lazy smirk tying through it all, “Can’t keep away can you, sweetheart?”

The answer to that was most certainly a yes, but all she could was beam a bright smile to try and hide just how much she was blushing, and from the how Mason’s smirk only grew, he was quite pleased with that reaction.

Nelly was the one who drove the both of them in her hatchback, and while the poor silver car had seen better days, it always did better in the heat of the summer.

And speaking of summer, the signs of the season had come all over Wayhaven. The trees were all in full leaf, their branches full of bright flowers that colorful butterflies and honeybees would flutter around. Sunset was becoming later and later into the night, and the new sounds of crickets could be heard in the otherwise quiet nights.

It never failed to make her smile, even with the sweltering heat, to see everything to look so brilliant, and this gentle change of the seasons was one of her favorite things about the town.

But for the morning, she had decided to stop at Haley’s before heading to work, something that she had made a habit of doing back when she first became an officer. It was part of her normal routine, and perhaps there was that desire to share it with Mason, bring him in to every part of her life. There was something special about it, and even though she did know that it could be unwise to let her defenses down, it was like she could not help it. He managed to pull them down without even trying anyway.

She parked her car in front of the bakery, and the two of them climbed out of the car, and Nelly brushed her long braid of blonde hair that came down to her waist over her shoulder as she did so. Then she walked over to Mason, who was waiting for her after closing the passenger side door of her car.

Smoothly, but also slightly hesitant, so she could pull away if she wanted, he wrapped an arm around her waist, the touch surprisingly gentle, and she looked up to give me a smile, as goosebumps seemed to settle on her skin even with the heat.

He gave her a small smirk in return, and she continued to gaze into the pair of grey eyes that she had knew so well now, but she also knew that she would never tire of seeing them. The two of them stayed like this for what had to have been several minutes, the world seeming to dissolve around them.

Mason then blinked hard, as if he realized what he was doing, and then he turned to look at the front of the bakery, and she tried to hide her pang of disappointment at the moment being broken, “What is this place?”

“This is the town’s bakery”, she explained, gesturing to it with one of her hands. The bakery was decorated for the season, with brilliant yellow curtains and a variety of colorful banners that lined the walls. Each of the tables had a centerpiece of seasonal flowers, and strings of fairy lights were strung above the outside seating area.

“It’s- bright”, was all that he said in response, looking over the whole place unsurely, slightly squinting his eyes as he did so.

“Well, everything about summer is I suppose”, Nelly said, and then feeling like she had to add something else, she continued, “Haley changes the décor depending on the seasons, so it is not always like this”

“Why are we here?”, he then asked, one of his eyebrows raising as he did so.

“It’s something I do every morning”, she confirmed, a smile crossing her face, and she then whispered under her breath, forgetting that Mason could most definitely hear her, “And I wanted to share it with you”

Her eyes went wide as soon as she realized what she said, and she immediately tore her eyes away from his, an almost beg that he would not push it as panic started to fill her stomach.

But he said nothing in return, and when she finally got the nerve to look back at him, there was a look of almost confusion on his face, as if he was listening to something he did not understand.

That look however, was gone as quick as she saw it, and he seemed to brush it off as quickly as she did, shaking his head slightly as he did so, “We going in, or what?”

“Yeah, of course”, she muttered in response, and with his arm still around her waist, they walked into the bakery.

“Good morning Nelly!”, Haley said as the two of them came inside, Nelly leading him to one of the booths near the window at the far end.

“Morning!”, she beamed as they both sat down, Mason moving his arm to around her shoulders.

“The usual?”, Haley then asked, and she gave her a nod, and then she turned to the man next to her, “Anything I can get you, dear?”

Mason seemed to be jolted out of thought at that, that streak of confusion on his face that she saw earlier appearing for just a second, and he opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately bit it down.

“He’s good”, she said, answering for him, and Haley went behind the counter to go get her order and she looked over at him, his dark marron shirt and black pants contrasting heavily against the décor of the place, and even her own outfit, with her bright white top and teal blue pants.

“Are you okay?”, Nelly then said, worry creeping in her voice, one that she made no effort to hide.

“I’m fine, sweetheart”, he finally whispered, his smirk not as wide as usual, and as much as she wanted to keep pushing it because obviously _something_ was up, she knew that doing so was only going to wall it off harder, so she gave a sigh, resigning herself that this was all that she was going to get out of it.

“You come here every morning?”, he then remarked, almost as if he was trying to fill the silence that had been forming between them, and for now, she was going to take it.

“Yes”, she nodded, looking over the place, “I have for a quite a few years. It’s nice”

He gave a light scoff to that, but there was no malice behind it, almost a playfulness to it, “Can’t say I’m surprised by that”

“Why?”

“You’re always so goddamn _nice_ about things”, Mason almost chuckled, and she gave him a wide grin in response to that, not knowing what to say to that as the feeling of bliss seemed to fill her chest, his last moment of hesitation nearly forgotten.

“Well, thanks?”, Nelly finally managed to say, suddenly extremely aware of the rosy blush on her cheeks, and then a rare streak of boldness pushed through, “Was that a compliment?”

“Take it as one, sweetheart”, he said, giving her an almost half-smile, and the gently moved closer to her, the tension that was in his shoulders since they walked in seeming to fall away.

She hardly could hear anything else besides her own racing heart, so it made her jump when Haley set her drink and pastry down on the table.

“Hope you enjoy!”, she chirped as the set it down on the table, giving them both a wide grin before leaving.

It took her a few seconds to get back into the moment, but she gave Mason another gentle smile before moving to take a sip of her normally ordered iced tea, which was accompanied with as pastry covered in chocolate syrup.

The look of unmasked disgust was obvious as he looked down at it, and she did all that she could to try and hide a laugh, “Does it bother you?

“I don’t see how you can eat that…”, he muttered, and she made no effort to hide her laugh this time.

“Always had a sweet tooth, I suppose”, Nelly beamed, unable to hide a smile.

Mason smoothly ran his fingers through the pieces of her hair that normally hung to her shoulders, often falling out of her braid, “That’s pushing it”

She gave a bright laugh at that, one that she noticed crossed another half-smile on his face, one that wholeheartedly returned.

The two of them sat it comfortable silence with each other, as if they were enjoying each-other’s company, the bakery empty of patrons beside the two of them. It was peaceful, serene, and she knew that it could stay like this forever, and she would always be content.

But she did still have work, and unfortunately, that was not a possibly. At around 8:30, she grabbed her things, turning to Mason, who had stopped gazing at her since the two of them had sat down.

“Well, we better get going”, she sighed, trying not to let the disappointment find its way into her voice.

He gave her a nod, that all was needed, and she waved a goodbye to Haley as they made their way to her car.

The drive to the station was short, usually walking it most days, and as she made her way to the station’s front door, which Mason accompanied her to.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later”, she sighed, regretful that it all had to end now, but she did her best to plaster on a smile.

And even so, she knew that she was going to treasure this morning together for a long time, already going to be what she was thinking about it all day.

“Count on it, sweetheart”, he almost purred, a husky tone forming in his voice, and with the words seeming to stop at her tongue, she moved forward on her tiptoes to give him a gentle kiss on his temple, and she could feel him give the hints of a smile as she did so.

Nelly gave him a nod, her own smile growing wider, “Looking forward to it”

He gave her one last smirk before striding away down the sidewalks, looking back to look at her once before leaving completely, and

After he left, she then looked at the tattoo on the inside of her right arm, and she read the words that she had read over and over again.

_“On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur, l’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux”_

_It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye._

She had gotten that tattoo years ago, the sentence from one of her favorite books, but it was now that she was really starting to understand that meaning.

_Even if it took me a while to realize it._

With one last grin, she headed inside, knowing what her mind was going to be one for the rest of the day.


	12. Adam and Kai- Under The Surface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Adam and Kai Matsui (@lilas's detective)
> 
> Prompt (kind of reworded)- #38- You've thought about this, haven't you?
> 
> Hope I did him justice! :D

The sun had not fully risen yet, still hidden behind the tall of the trees, but the sky was starting to fill in hue of golden lights, alighting the sleepy town of Wayhaven as the dawn of a new day began.

Kai forced himself to push harder in the last stretch of his morning run, his feet slightly sinking into the slightly damp ground of the morning, trying to keep his breathing steady. Running had become a sort of out for him during the past few years, giving him time to think and get in the best mindset for the rest of his day.

But now, he was not sure just how long he was going to be able to keep doing this.

On his normal route outside, anyway.

When Murphy had been captured, it had been a great relief to him when that was all over, since this part of normal in his life was allowed to happen again, not being able to do so when he was still on the lose in the town. And foolishly, he had believed that everything would go back to how it was before afterwards.

For a little while, it could be argued that it did. But with the increased supernatural presence in Wayhaven (at least, what Kai knew about), and the arrival of the maa-alused had just cemented the fact that this supernatural filled life was his new normal, whether he liked it or not.

_Especially with what happened with the maa-alused_

He felt his teeth clench at the thought of them, always a reminder of how that ended. Falk, the leader, had aligned themselves with the rouges over the Agency, leaving the town with people still affected from their “disease”. People had been more on edge since they had left, Verda’s cure working, but it had not been enough for the tension in the air to die away.

_Isn’t how it ended your faut?_

And as much as he tried to push that thought away, knowing that guilt was no way to go about anything, having had to learn that lesson time and time again, it was hard to deny his control over that situation. Perhaps had he gone about it different, there may have been at least some peace.

Or maybe there was nothing that he could have done differently, and they were always fated to join the rouges. Regardless of which one it was, it was his failure, and one that he would have bear alone.

_That’s not how you should deal with this, and you know it._

But it was hard for him to push it all away and move forward, and part of him wanted to tell someone about what was stirring inside. However, the words just felt flat whenever he tried to say them, and so he kept them locked inside, hoping that one day he would finally see how this was how it was supposed to work out.

Even so, that still left the maa-alused out there somewhere, and the possibility of them coming back to Wayhaven was strong, likely when Kai least expected it.

_Will I be ready when they do?_

And as that was not enough misfortunate, it was not long afterwards when he learned of the trapper’s bounty on his head, just continuing to add to everything that had gone wrong over the past few months.

It was hard for him to figure out exactly how he felt about the bounty, but it left him no choice, just like the maa-alused, to move forward, continue his work as both a detective and as a liaison, and try not to focus on what could be lurking in the shadows.

But even with that, the schedule that he lived by for years was going to be disrupted, and his morning run was likely going to be the first casualty. Part of Kai also knew that if the rest of the team knew what he was doing, it would immediately be discouraged, especially as he was alone, and he was not looking forward to that in the slightest.

For today however, his run was over, and he made his way back through the hallways of his apartment building, brushing his chin-length hair, damp with sweat, out of his face.

He had expected to go inside and get a shower, but the buzz from his phone got his attention, and he got it out to see what it was.

_Adam: Meet us at the warehouse this morning. We have a meeting._

Letting out a long sigh, he could feel all of what he tried to keep buried down coming to him in a rush. As if he did not enough to think about, after one night with Adam under the fireworks, he had completely cut off even talking to him outside of a professional setting, and it kind of left him feeling even more alone in his swirl of guilt and regrets then he already was.

Nothing was going to change at least currently however, as much as he wanted it to, and for now, it would be best to get that swirl of thoughts of out of his head, and try to focus on about anything else.

Kai then entered his apartment, hoping to make himself slightly more presentable before arriving at the warehouse, and to water his houseplants before having to leave.

***

The drive over to the place where Unit Bravo had made their home was as normal as it always was, the sun now fully in the sky, filling any empty spot with the warmth of it, it cooler now, but it would likely be sweltering later in the day.

There was a certain nervousness that seemed to prick his skin the whole way there, but Kai did his best to ignore it, knowing exactly why it was there and really preferring that it was not.

But as he parked his silver hatchback, he made out the figure of someone in the distance, and he felt his chest tighten at the sight.

_Adam_

_What is he doing here?_

After the past month, this was definitely a first, and a small bloom of hope filled him, which he quite quickly dampened.

_I can’t get my hopes up again, not after last month_

Part of him knew that was impossible, his heart having decided. He also knew that he went all into his own feelings, something he thought he would have learned his lesson about after Bobby, but what he was feeling know was deeper than anything he had ever felt with him.

Kai walked up to Adam, his green eyes seeming to scan him as he did so, his broad shoulders so tight and rigid that he could almost be mistaken as a statue.

And as much as he wanted to ask him in a more eloquent way, the question tumbled out before he could stop it, “Why are you out here?”

“I- We- the team was waiting for you to get here”, he stated in response, fumbling over his words at the beginning, and even with the hint of warning that appeared in Adam’s eyes that told him not to push it, it did not stop the racing of his own pulse.

With nothing else he felt like he could say, which was ironic, considering all that he _wanted_ to say, he turned to the front of the warehouse, “Well, I’m here. We can get the meeting started”

He had started to walk towards it before realizing that Adam was not following him, “You coming, or what?”

“Are you alright, Detective?”, he then said as if he had not heard Kai at all, a soft tone coming into his voice that he so rarely heard.

_Why is he asking me this?_

_He can’t possibly know all about what I have been thinking about._

“Absolutely _dandy_ ”, Kai grinned, and before he could stop himself, he continued, small amounts of all that he holding back slipping through, “Between the maa-alused and the trappers, everything’s been great hasn’t it?”

With the realization of what he had said, he immediately turned away, the faint echoes of panic starting to fill him, and he expected to just strid inside and try to forget it ever happened.

But firm words stopped him.

“How much have you been thinking about this?”

Kai blinked hard, almost as if he had imagined the words, because surely, that would have never come from Adam, but he spun back around, trying to desperately make some sense of it.

He moved closer to him, now just a foot away, “You are part of this team. You do not have to go through this alone”

And even though he opened his mouth to say something, Kai could not think of a thing to say to that, and it just got even worse when Adam reached out, placed his hand gently on his arm.

The two of them did nothing but look into each-others eyes, in the only moment that they had together since the carnival, and he let himself get lost in it, drinking it all in like it would be the last time this happened.

It was eventually broken, by Adam, who let go of his arm, shaking his head as if he had also gotten lost in it. But he did not back away quickly, instead almost hesitantly, taking as long as he could before pulling away.

“We should join the others”, he mumbled, to which Kai gave him a nod.

“Of course,”

The two of them then walked inside, and as much as he tried to bury it back down, the bloom of hope was only growing larger.


	13. Mason and Faustus- Everything has Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Faustus Valentine (veeteeshirt's detective)
> 
> Request- #“You make me want things I can’t have.”
> 
> Hope I did him justice!

When Faustus first met Mason, this was the last thing that he expected to happen.

These _feelings._

Which he really could not fully understand.

Or perhaps he did, he just did not want to fully admit them

There had been signs of it since the beginning, but something he had quite quickly suppressed. For some reason, what he would have normally had have hidden behind a quick sarcastic comment, an almost fear of someone looking too far in, he found hard to do around Mason. He was able to pull that side of him without even having to try, and he could never understand _why._

A part of Faustus knew exactly what was really going on, the, dare he say it, _softer_ , parts of Mason never failing to draw him in an entirely different way. This was never something he intended to happen in the slightest, thinking he was okay keeping their relationship the way it was. Simple, uncomplicated, no strings attached.

But as time went on, the more he realized he wanted _more_ then that, as strange as it was to him at first. However, there was also the truth that he kept coming back to whenever he was getting slightly too optimistic about it.

_You’re wanting something you’ll never get from him._

This was the same old song, the same old story. Trying to change what normally would have considered a “friends with benefits” sort of relationship had always ended in disaster before, and there was no reason why it would not now, especially considering who Mason was.

There was a deep fear that was starting to form, as if knew the truth of the depth of feelings, it would scare him off forever, and that was the last thing Faustus ever wanted to happen.

So, this is how it would have to be. Keeping his silence until the end of time, even if that was the opposite of what he knew he wanted.

_It’s better this way._

_Isn’t it?_

Retroactively, what he did notice at first, he had put a sort of distance between Mason and himself. Faustus had not entirely meant to do it, it more of a reaction to the sudden onslaught of his own feelings, and he was not sure if it was the right decision.

Trying to read how Mason felt about it was near impossible, but he had never said anything to him about it. But he could feel the pricks of confusion from him as they stood in the same room, but also not entirely from how he was acting either. As if he was not sure why this made him feel the way it did.

Sighing, he rubbed his tired eyes as he continued to read the book in front of him. It was one of Nat’s, one that she had recommended herself to help with his research into the supernatural world. And as interesting as it was, it was hardly what he was able to focus on tonight.

His notebook was sitting on the end table next to him, something that he had made a habit of taking with him everywhere for the past few years. What he mostly used it for was song ideas whenever the struck him, despite his dreams of becoming a musician not working out the way Faustus would have wanted them to.

But now, it almost had a new significance, one that taken him a while to realize. Some part of it, mixed with his normal songs, were things about Mason. Unspoken confessions, never to see the light of anyone’s eyes except his own, and there was a part of him that was fearful of one of the others finding it, and it would be out there for the whole world to see, no longer hiding behind anything. Just bare, hard truth.

_And that is the last thing that I would ever want to possibly happen._

With that, his mind was entirely elsewhere, far from the research that he really should have been doing, he set Nat’s book down on the table, grabbing his own notebook before leaving the room, hoping that no one would try to talk to him on his way out.

He stepped out of the front door of the warehouse, it almost pitch dark besides the flicker of outside lights and the glow from the moon. His original idea when going out here was because he needed to get some air and some time to think, but he could have hardly expected who would have been outside as well.

_Mason_

_What is he doing here?_

The vampire was leaning against the back wall, almost seeming to disappear into the shadows behind him, an unlit cigarette dangling loosely between his fingers. At Faustus’s arrival, he had expected him to stiffen, perhaps leave altogether, but he did not. Instead, he almost seemed to relax, the confusion that seemed to follow him everywhere since this separation had begun not leaving his stormy grey eyes.

Both of them stood in silence for what felt like hours, as if they were both fishing for something, _anything_ , to say, but nothing was said as rising tension could be felt.

Finally, Faustus finally found his words, “What are you doing out here?”

_That’s probably a stupid question._

_I know why, well sort of._

_I would have just expected him to be up on the roof._

“It’s quiet”, Mason simply stated in response, and Faustus dipped his head slightly.

“Well, I won’t disturb it”, he muttered, almost searching for a way in order to leave as quickly as he could, “I’ll go back insi- “

“You don’t disturb it”

The sudden strength in Mason’s words made his eyes widen, but he fought not to be too visibly affected by it, especially by the nearly completely hidden beg in his words.

_Please don’t leave_

And even though a part of him was screaming at him to leave, get out of here as fast as he could, he could deny how much he _missed_ being around him, even with his feelings on the table now. He could have a surprisingly calming presence when he wanted to, and so Faustus did, going to lean against the wall next to him.

Then, Mason asked the question that seemed like he had been wanting to ask since he came outside.

“What’s going on with you?”

There was a considerable amount of bite in his question, but Faustus was unsure if he really meant there to be.

Regardless, the tension that had building up over the past few weeks finally spilled over, and he said what he would wonder if he regrated or not.

“You really want to know what’s going on here, Mason?”, he growled, his hands reflexively balling into fists.

“You make me want things I can’t have”

Breathing heavily, Faustus spun his head away, the small amount of honesty slipping out, and while he wanted to storm away and leave Mason standing there alone, he stayed there anyway, almost a plea for him to say _something_.

However, he said nothing in response to that, and when he finally got the nerve to look back at Mason, there was no anger in his face, but the look of a man who was trying desperately to comprehend what happened.

With nothing else to say, the two of them spent the rest of the night outside together, the weight of his words seeming to fill the air even still.


	14. Mason and Gale- Spoken Assurances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Gale Langford (@solus-reaper's detective)
> 
> No prompt for this one!
> 
> But I hope I did her justice! :D

The cycle of missions was starting to be something that Gale was getting used to, as hard as it was at first.

Whether she liked it or not, the supernatural were certainly a permanent fixture in her life, and that came with her job as an Agency liaison, even though it did sometimes like her job as a detective was starting to bleed into it at times.

Which is why she was here now, looking into what was suspected to be a hideout for trappers before it was abandoned, and since it was also in Wayhaven city limits, it also made it a detective case as well as an Agency case.

_As if life wasn’t complicated enough._

She had originally joined the police force to use her mind, but everything that had happened since the Murphy case was had truly put that to the test.

And well, she was in it now. No point in lingering in it.

Gale then turned to the man next to her, the man who had been on her mind the most these past few months, finding he was already looking at her. Mason’s steely grey eyes were watching her intently, almost as if she was judging her reaction to the scene before them, his presence surprisingly calming, even if that was something that would have been crazy to her a couple of months ago.

_And speaking of complicated…_

She had spent way more time than she would ever admit trying to figure out what the heck they were even supposed to be, or what they had the potential to become. He had told her that there time together at the carnival would mean nothing more, but she could not deny the hope that it would one day be something there.

It was just _nice_ to be around him, being able to sit together without having to say anything, the silence comfortable and without the expectation of one of them to speak. She never had anything like that before, and it was something that she never wanted to have to give up.

However, that started the difficult part of it all. The second there looked to be genuine feelings on his side, it would switch quickly, back to where it started.

Or maybe there was not any, and she was reading him completely wrong. Gale had never been the best at reading people after all, there was the high possibility that she was mistaken.

But the hope was still there, that there was something different here, something more, and for now, it was all that she could cling to.

And before she could think about this any longer, one of the Agency members who had arrived to the two of them, her long silver hair pulled back in a messy bun on the back of her head.

“Specialist Agent Mason”, she said, nodding toward him before turning to her, “And Detective Langford. Thank you for coming. I was told you would be arriving, so I got the place blocked off before any of the town could come wandering over here”

_It’s my town, I think I’d be here regardless._

“Yeah, of course, thank you”, Gale said, mumbling her words as she did so. She was never the best at talking to other people, business setting or not, but Mason was obviously not going to the one to do it, so that left her, “We’ll start with processing the place”

“Alright, you’re free to do so”, she spoke in response, “Tell me if you need anything”

Gale gave her a nod, before turning to look at Mason once before they both headed inside.

The small building where the trappers were said to taken refuge had been empty for a few years after the owner passed away, their son now owning the place, but he lived outside of Wayhaven, though he did normally pay someone to keep it looking nice. It was far enough away from the other parts of the town that any changes in it would not be immediately noticeable.

_Probably why, if this is the place, why it was chosen in the first place._

But when they stepped inside, the place was an absolute wreck, the floor completely scratched up and parts of it missing, the wallpaper stained, and the curtains were lying on the ground in tatters, though the blinds still looked to be in okay shape.

_It’s going to be hard to find anything here._

And then, almost on instinct, she turned to look at Mason, trying to read his reaction to the place and whether it was too overwhelming for him. It was hard for her to put her worries in actual words, that never being something that she was good at, but she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, feeling him surprisingly untense slightly from the touch.

“Are you okay?”, she asked quietly, almost as if saying it too loud would scare him off, which he gave a shrug in return to.

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart”, he said, sounding like he wanted there to be more bite in his voice, but it is all seemed to evaporate as he looked back into her eyes, “Just need a second to adjust”

Gale might not know just how much his hyper senses affected him, or just how extreme they were, but part of her wished that she could do something about it.

“Okay”, she finally managed to say, looking over the length of the room, “You want to start on opposite sides, and then we’ll meet up in the middle?”

A sudden uncertain look in his eyes slightly shocked her, but she tried to push it down, even though she knew that it was likely nothing, “Or, we could stick together if you want?”

To her surprise he gave a nod, even if it did look like he was desperately trying to play it off. And even so, it made her smile, and she made her way to the half-open window.

Whoever had last used it had closed it rather quickly, as if they were leaving in a hurry, but it just served to confuse her.

_Why would they go out the window when no one knew they were here?_

She looked back at Mason, and then back at the front door, “What do you think happened here?”

“This investigation stuff is your specialty”, he said flatly, “You’d know better than I would”

Gale thought for a moment, “Did someone know they were here?”

“You think they had help from someone in town?”

Feeling her breath catch at that, she let out a long sigh. That was not something that she even let herself think, but it was starting to look to be more and more like a possibility.

“You could be right about that”, she whispered, “We’d probably have to go through every person who lives near here and see if any of them know anything. Start at the houses on 13th street, and work from there. People are nosy in this town; they’ve bound to see something”

Turning to look at him, she found Mason staring at her blankly, “What?”

“You rattled that off rather quickly”

She gave a slight laugh, “Well, I’m sorry that you have to listen to my ramblings. Just trying to figure it all out in my min-“

“Don’t be”

He gave her the hint of a smile as he did so, almost as reassurance, which she returned as they went back to processing the room, a new spring in her step.


	15. Mason and Parris- Doubts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Mason and Parris Langford (@stealthbynight's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #15- "Was that supposed to hurt?"
> 
> Hope I did him justice! :D

There was nothing that Parris liked more than a good mystery.

But the mystery of his love life was one that he could live without.

He had been watching Mason across his office for what had been hours now, trying to make it seem like he was doing work and not in actuality procrastinating slightly, as if he could stare at him forever it would finally make sense.

Not much luck so far however, and he was starting to doubt if it ever would.

It was starting to feel as if was a constant back and forth, hot and cold, as if there was just a _hint_ of something deeper before it being completely dissolved into nothingness, and he would be left empty-handed until a hint of it returned again.

And it did not help at all recently that these hints had become more and more frequent, leaving more and more confused as to what they were actually supposed to be.

The physical side of the relationship had been fun, but it doing so, it had just hit him that he wanted _more._ His feelings ran deeper then he had realized they did, and the realization of this changed some things with just how he saw their relationship.

But was it the same for Mason? Sometimes it seemed like it did, and Parris sure hoped it was. But it now looked like he would forever be trapped into hope in a future that did not exist.

He had even asked him if it would mean anything more if they did. Mean just as much as it meant to him. The response to that however, just left him more confused.

_“I don’t know the goddamn answer”_

Part of him still held onto the hope, but there was a much louder part that always covered it up, now mattered how much he tried to push it away.

_It’s just another way of saying no_

And that thought alone pained him, it always came to him anyway. Perhaps his own confusion was leading the way, but it was hard to think it could be possibly anything else.

_Was that supposed to hurt this much, Mason?_

_I don’t think you meant it to, but it sure does._

Regardless, doubts were always first and foremost on his mind, and there seemed to be no way to escape them, and he was starting to fear there was no way for it to ever be resolved.

There was also the desire to talk about it someone, Nate being the first person he thought of, since he could likely help him think through it all, but he was not sure what he would even say if he did. Parris could hardly rationalize it all himself, much less try to drag anyone else into his mess.

So instead, it looked like for now at least, he would be keeping it all inside, hoping that something would make sense one day, be a puzzle that he would actually be able to figure out.

He had not let himself fall this hard for anyone since Bobby, and well, that had ended in disaster. But this was different, more then he ever felt for anyone before. And even with that slightly terrifying him, Parris had no qualms against it.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, after Mason had initially walked away after he asked _that_ question, he did not seem to be putting much thought into it at all, brushing it off like nothing had happened. It was a comfort at least, that he was not being completely avoidant now, but there also the sting that it did really mean nothing more and never would.

After several minutes, Mason suddenly cocked his head toward him, a smirk sliding on his face, “Like what you see, handsome?”

The pet name was something that he could live without, especially with it being the same one as the one that Bobby had given him, but it had been something he decided to let go. (And the softer way he had been saying it recently was not really that bad)

Parris blinked at the moment of silence of broken, but he returned his smirk, “What would you want me to say?”

“You look like you can’t take your eyes off me”, Mason shot back.

“Maybe I can’t”, he said, giving him a smile, giving him the faint hints of a wink.

Mason actually chuckled at that, a deep one that seemed to ring across his empty office, and he surprisingly genuine moment between the two of them just continued to make his mood brighten.

“It’s not like you’re far from my mind at any point and time”, he almost whispered, slips of honestly slipping through what he would normally keep locked up at the fear of it not meaning the same.

He shrugged at that, “It’s the same for me”

Parris felt his mouth drop open slightly from that. That was quite literally the last thing that he expected him to say, and he had no idea what to say, a flush climbing up his neck before he could stop it.

From the slightly raised eyebrow that Mason was giving him, he was quite pleased with that reaction, “Are you really that surprised by that?”

“It’s not like you’re particularly forthcoming about anything”, he stated as he got up from his desk and went to stand next to him in the only dark corner in the room.

Tracing his fingers down Parris’s jawline, Mason gave him the start of a smolder, “Then perhaps I can just show you, then?”

With that, he leaned closer to him, gently enough so he could move away if he wanted to, but that was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment.

Mason caught his lips in a kiss, the feeling of it consuming him as soon as it began, and he moved just as quickly back against him, trying his best to commit it to memory and to never let it go.

His brain had not forgotten the passion in the kiss after the mission with the trapper’s but this was different.

In the best of ways.

It had a certain _softness_ to it, so new and unlike anything he had ever felt from him before, and Parris was sure he never wanted to lose it.

_He may not be the best at words._

_But this…_

_This is more than enough of answer._

And it filled him with hope, one that did not die this time.

There was something deeper here, something that was just starting to be discovered, and there was nothing he wanted to do more then to find out what that was.


	16. Rhys LT (Adam and Nate)- Heart Torn Apart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- LT (Adam and Nate) and Rhys Balfour (@bigfan-fanfic's detective)
> 
> Prompt: #24- "You're trembling"
> 
> Hope I did him justice! :D

The circumstances that Rhys had found himself in now were quite literally the last thing he would ever expect to be in.

Unit Bravo’s arrival was never supposed to change his life this much, but it had anyway, and sometimes, he was not sure how he was supposed to deal with it all.

Finding out about the supernatural had been hard to take on its own, the disbelief that took a while to completely wear away, but this was different, his mind feeling as though it was at war with itself and nothing could calm it.

He had first had _connected_ with Adam, if you could call it that. The two had then had seen to almost drawn together by their rule following, serious nature, and it had been something that had intrigued him. The common ground, what he knew, starting a sort of kinship to him.

But then there was Nate. _Nate_ who made Rhys relax around him, as if he could tell him anything at all and he’d listen. They may have been opposites in every single way, but there was something endearing about him. As if he made him just feel normal, with a normal relationship that made him smile with no mess of complicated feelings and denial at all.

The choice that he needed to make should have been easy, right in front of him even. Chose the person that had no issues being with him, honestly and openness in their feelings, everything he could have ever wanted.

And yet, when the time had come to make that choice? He had declined Nate’s offer, at least for the moment at hand, with everything unresolved with him and Adam, it would just be unfair to him to do so.

Regardless with that being what he was telling himself, so many times that it ran on repeat in his mind, he also seemed to go back to one thing, a truth that Rhys knew but would feel way better off knowing.

_You’re doing this because you don’t want to hurt him._

Even if Adam would never admit it aloud, it was not hard to see how much this all affecting him, from the pricks of sad glances and the way he would quickly turn away whenever he and Nate were next to each other, and he could only imagine it would be worse if they made it official.

Because he did feel something for him, careful, quiet feelings that he had kept to himself, knowing how he would react if he spoke too much.

But at the same time, he had those feelings for Nate as well, they were just more open, since they were allowed to be, he always seeming to be able to draw it out of Rhys without even trying.

This left him with one cold truth however, and it was becoming more then he would ever be able to handle, feeling like he was drowning in the roughest ocean, no hand ever reaching out to help him.

He had feelings for both of them.

Strong, deep feelings, more then he had ever felt for anyone else.

And he was almost _disgusted_ with himself for it. It was like he was asking to make everything more complicated than it already was.

Rhys could feel the tension in the room, even if Nate had not seemed to have noticed it yet. It was like he was watching a friendship built on centuries bend under the pressure, and he was starting to fear that he was watching it break, all because of him.

_What the hell am I supposed to do with that?_

There was a part of him, a large part in fact, that was begging him to bow out of all this, let the feelings die there, never to be followed up upon.

But in maybe some sense of morbid curiosity or just needing to know the resolution, he pushed on with anyway, even if knowing that the hurt it would cause, a fact that scared him more than anything. That this would finally one day finally all make sense.

That day, however, did not seem to be anywhere in sight, at least today.

In was the same story whenever he and Adam were around each other. They may have been in the same room, but they may have been countries apart.

There was that longing in the air, the desire to reach out and figure out exactly what that was, but that was never resolved, as if just staring at each other would help show them the answers.

That had not worked so far, however. And perhaps today, he was feeling bolder, as if had sat inside him for too long and he wanted to say _something._

And something he did say.

“Do you remember what you said to me after just before you passed out?”

The question had seemed to catch Adam completely off guard, and he sputtered out a cough in response to that, “What?”

“After the mission with the trappers?”, Rhys pressed, “Or did you already forget all about it?”

The words that he had told him was just another reason why he had not started a relationship with Nate, what he spent some nights up late thinking about.

_“I wish… it was only me”_

Perhaps getting an explanation to them would finally give him some closure, allowing him to decide which way to move forward.

Adam had seemed to have been struck speechless by that, turning his head away from him, somehow more tense than he had ever seen him, but the hint of a slump in his shoulders, slightly moving as if he could not stand in the same place for too long.

His next words had seemed to blurt out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“Are you trembling?”

Before Adam was forced to answer that, looking as though he wanted to, but was unsure on what to say, the door to his office opened, revealing Nate.

He glanced over the scene of the two of them, and it was then that Rhys had realized just how close he had gotten to Adam, only now inches away, and he immediately moved away from him, surprised that Adam was not the one that moved first.

The tension in the room was almost suffocating him, and there was no way that Nate did not notice it, even if he would rather act like he did not.

“Is everything alright?”, Nate finally asked, almost whispering it, as if they were not supposed to hear it. For just a second, he looked like he had seen a ghost, _fear_ seeming to be spilling off again, but it was gone the next moment to be replaced by a gentle smile.

Rhys looked back at Adam, who looked like he wanted to be absolutely anywhere else, and decided that he would have to be the one who answered for the two of the them, “Yes, everything’s fine”

“Good”, he replied, a light chuckle on his lips, but almost seeming to be one born out of uncomfortableness then anything else, “Wouldn’t want there to be any issues between you two”

He gave Nate a half nod in response, trying to not let his brain settle on his words too much, even if they seemed to ring in his ears after he said them, and he gently pushed by him out the door, leaving the two of them in the wake of what happened, no longer able to deal with it himself.

_And the more this happens, I’m not sure how much longer I can take it._


	17. Farah and Jasmine "Jas"- Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request- Farah and Jasmine "Jas" (@agentnataliesewell's detective)
> 
> Prompt: #21- "Sometimes, being a complete nerd comes in handy:
> 
> Hope I did her justice!

Jasmine looked over the chess board before her, the pieces scattered over on the middle of the board, and she looked back up at Farah and then back at the board.

Having noticed the board in her apartment, Farah had asked her about it once, which led to her trying to teach her how to play.

At first, Jasmine was sure that would not go over well at all, but she could be surprisingly patient when she wanted to be. She had listened quietly while she had gone over the rules, and seemed just genuinely interested in learning more.

It was as Farah just knew just how important it was to her, and it made a smile appear on her lips.

The past month had been a whirlwind between both of her jobs, but there was a bright spot in it all, her newly founded relationship. She used to never jump in this quickly, always wanting to wait before getting fully involved in anything, but that had not happened this time. Not in the slightest.

She had thrown herself right in, without a hint of hesitance. There was just something in being around Farah, creating a sunshine that she had never had before in her life, Simply, she felt _better_ with her around, like the world would never be able to get in and tear anything down, and she wanted nothing more then to tightly hold onto that and never let it go.

After everything that had happened with Bobby, it still surprised her that she did so. She should have been worried about getting hurt, should she not? That she would be left out in the rain, with no one to turn to?

But that seemed irrelevant now. She was fully in, despite with the logical part of her was slightly confused by that.

It was not like anything she had before with anyone else, someone who was able to look beyond her rather intimidating front, and see something in it. Sometimes, Jasmine was not sure what she possibly saw in her, but she had anyway.

And even though she made her blush something furious whenever they were together, she had decided that she liked that, not ever feeling that way about anyone before.

It was new, exciting, and maybe a little bit terrifying as well, but a little bit of fear was worth it for what she was experiencing now.

She had invited Farah over to her apartment that morning, maybe because she just seemed to fit here like no one ever did before. As if she belonged here, and would forever.

A new meaning for home, home in a person, someone who made her smile and laugh like a lovesick teenager.

“It’s your turn, Jas”, Farah suddenly said, breaking her out of her thoughts, “Don’t leave me hanging over here”

Jasmine’s face seemed to light up at the use of her nickname. It was not something that she used often, usually avoiding it when she could, but there was something special when she used it. It was hard to explain in words, but it never failed to make her grin.

“Sorry”, she said, giving her the hint of a laugh before moving her piece, barely being able to pay attention to where she was placing it when she caught her amber eyes.

“You seem rather distracted”, Farah said, the faint hints of a smirk forming on her face, “That wouldn’t happen to be because of me, would it?”

A flush crept up her neck, but she tried her best to return her smirk, “I think you know the answer to that”

That seemed to surprise Farah for a second, but a small, genuine smile, started to make it’s way on her face, “Yeah… yeah, I really do”

From the sudden heaviness in the room, Jasmine immediately tried to break it, “So, your turn?”

“Of yeah, of course”, she muttered, her move leaving the opening in order for her to reach checkmate.

“Checkmate!”, she quickly chirped out, to which Farah gave a laugh to.

“You’re so good at this”, she muttered, but not a drop of envy in her words, just full of happiness, “That’s what, the fourth time you’ve won?”

“Well, sometimes being a nerd comes in handy”, she grinned, as the two of them started to put the pieces back to where they belonged at the start of a game.

“I’d say”, Farah said, returning her smile, “Maybe you should try playing Ava sometime. I’d like to see that”

“Ava plays chess?”

“She’ll play anything that she can win”, she replied, “But I’m sure you could probably beat her. And I’d _love_ to see it”

Jasmine momentarily thought about what playing a game with Ava would be like, and it almost made her laugh, knowing how seriously that she would take it, being quite different then what she was playing now.

“We’ll see”, she finally said, seeing Farah’s eyes light up at that.

“Oh, I can’t wait for this”, she beamed, “It’s going to be amazing”

She turned back to her, her face starting to fill with mischief, like a cat when they see a Christmas tree, “Well, since you’ve won four games already, I expect that I’ll have to reward you”

“Reward me? How?”

“Isn’t it obvious”, she whispered as she leaned forward over the table slightly, and after looking over to her for permission, she kissed her.

Kissed her as she had many times before, but it was amazing each and every time. Like she fell for her every single time that they did it again, no exceptions in the slightest. Like coming home after a long day, full of familiarity and closeness, like home.

She could feel Farah smile into the kiss, and she whispered, her face still against hers, “Was that an adequate reward, Jas?”

“You know it was”, Jasmine said in return, opening her eyes until they were stuck there, gazing at each other, the rest of the world might as well had dissolved around them. As if they were all that mattered.

Leaning forward again, Farah kissed her, and she let herself be lost in it again, knowing that she was happier then she ever had been before.


	18. Nate and Conner- Holding Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Nate and Conner Ludus (@chaos-gremlin-the-42nd's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #1- "It's really not that complicated"
> 
> Hope I did him justice! :D

When they first met, Conner had believed that he and Nate could not be more different.

Nate seemed certainly more open than he was, honestly about his feelings, with no reason to deflect them, and while he himself had no issues with his own feelings, there were other parts of his life that he would suppress until they went away, something that Conner was sure that he would have noticed eventually.

But the longer they were together, the more and more he was realizing they were more alike than he could possibly have realized.

The two of them had started a relationship, which was not something that Conner could say that he regretted. It was nice to be able to be upfront his feelings, the two of them coming together with those in common.

It was simply _nice_ , easy, as if it was meant to be, and the past month had him feeling like he was in the clouds, with the fall to earth seeming like miles away.

However, it was finally seeming like he had fallen back down, with a realization that continued to shake him, and he was not entirely sure how to deal with it.

To him, it had come to him as an almost switch, but the more that he was thinking about it, it had been there all along, he just had never realized it before. It was if after the feelings started to develop, it was the time to “get to know each other”, everything had come to a screeching halt.

And Conner knew that it was going to take some time for him to able to just for _honest_ , with Nate and with himself, but he would have never guessed that it would be something that he would struggle with as well.

He had always seemed open, from the moment that he met him, wearing his emotions on his sleeve, with an “open face” as Tina would call it, and he had no reason to not believe so, at least then.

But now, with finally realizing that Nate could do just as much deflecting as he could, well, it had changed how he viewed a few things, and it made everything even more confusing going forward.

Especially with how he seemed to want him to open up, while refusing to do the same thing himself. It was hard not to get frustrated at him, at least inwardly.

Conner knew how hard to was to open up, but he was trying, and he was working even harder to with someone that he was starting to care about so much.

Feeling as though he was the only one doing so however, was making him uneasy.

The uneasiness came less from Nate’s almost refusal to open up completely, being able to notice there was definite parts of his past that he had shied away from, and he was okay with that. He would never want him to feel like he had bared his soul to him after the quite short time that they had known each other.

For now, at least, he was keeping this to himself, telling himself that it did not bother him much at all, even if it did, focusing on all the good, even if the storm seeming to be raging in the distance. It was far better to just try and ignore it then to worry about what the future could hold.

In doing so though, Conner, without realizing it at first, had made himself even more distant, as if that was his way of dealing with it. The realization of that kind of freaked him out a little, and it left with the desire to want to fix it as best as he could.

Tonight, he and Nate were doing research in the library, while rain made its way almost gently way down over the warehouse. It was there way of being together, the silence in between them comfortable and not deafening at all. It was soothing to be around him, and that was something that Conner doubted would ever change.

Nate had not mentioned him growing distant at all, and it had been difficult to read just how he felt about it, but he decided that he needed to reach out anyway. For the both of them.

“I’m sorry”

His brown eyes seemed to widen at that statement, confusion lacing his face, “What for?”

It was hard to tell if he genuinely did not know what he was talking about, or was simply feigning it, but Conner continued anyway.

“For being kind of distant lately”

_It really isn’t your fault._

_I’m just a bit frustrated._

_With myself more then you._

One of Nate’s eyebrows raised, “I don’t think you’ve been so at all”

“You don’t have to tell me what you think I want to hear”, Conner blurted out before he could stop himself, “I rather hear what you feel honestly”

_It’s really not that complicated._

_Or is it?_

Nate moved his hands toward his pockets, but did not completely shove them in before stopping and looking back at him, obviously at a loss for words.

A pang of guilt started to fill him, so he continued, “Look, I know that I am the last person who can be preaching to you about this, but please, don’t feel like you have to hold anything back from me”

His voice dropped to a whisper, “No matter how terrible you think it is, you’re not alone”

_I’m not leaving._

A smile made it’s way on Nate’s face, but it almost seemed forced, “I know”

_Do you know?_

_Do you really believe that?_

Even with frustration begging to crawl into his voice, he pushed it down with a sigh, “I’m not just saying it to say it, Nate. I mean it”

_And one day, I’ll find the strength to do the same._

_Perhaps, we’ll meet in the middle._

He nodded at that, but from the way that he went straight back to looking at his book in front of him, he was ending the conversation there.

Conner knew that continuing to push it now it would only end in disaster, so he moved his one back closer to his face, letting silence fall in-between them again.


	19. Morgan and Maeve- Catching Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Morgan and Maeve Brùn (@peggycarters's detective)
> 
> Prompt: #9 "You're in love with her" and #12 "What are you thinking about?"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Morgan watched Maeve go, taking out a cigarette and lighting it as she did.

It was hard not to want to watch her every move as she went, almost hoping that she would turn around to face her before she left, even if she was unsure as to why.

And her luck, Maeve did, giving her a slow wink with one of her dark brown eyes, a gesture that she immediately returned with a smirk.

She had always enjoyed this back-and-forth banter with her, not like it was hard to attracted to her in the first place.

_Absolutely stunning woman that she is._

But as much as she enjoyed it, there was also the pull of loyalty, trust, stronger then she had ever felt before, and she had no idea on what that could mean.

It was just a whole bunch of confusion, but Morgan was certain it would pass eventually. Maeve was part of the team, right? It made sense that she felt protective over her.

_But do you feel like this over the others?_

Every single time it got just so slightly too far, she immediately pushed it away again, going back to what they knew they were getting into at the start of their “relationship”

_Is that all it is though?_

At one point, Morgan would have been so sure that was the answer. But now?

Simply, she did not know.

And no answer seemed to be in sight.

Morgan shook her head to get that line of questioning out of her head, hardly noticing it when Nat came up to stand next to her.

“She’s been gone for several minutes now”, Nat said, a start of a smile in her words.

“What does that have to do with anything?”, she almost snapped, the words coming out harsher than they really wanted them to.

Nat had mentioned that she was enjoying watching her “experience this” whatever _this_ was. It was something that still confused her whenever she thought about it, having no idea what that could possibly mean.

“You usually would leave your spot as soon as she did”, she continued, and if Morgan was not mistaken, there was almost a mischievous glint in her brown eyes, something that she had never seen in them before “That has not happened recently, has it?

“You too?”, she scoffed in return, “As if Farah was not bad enough…”

She actually laughed at that, “Do you really want to know what’s going on here?”

After a moment of hesitation, Morgan nodded, “I guess?”

“You’re in love with her”

That statement almost made her choke, “What?”

“You’re not there yet”, Nat went on as if her interjection had never happened, “But you will be”

With her growing smile, she went to go, leaving Morgan even more confused.

_That’s not what is going on here._

_Right?_

Whatever was, it was far out of her realm of understanding, and as much as she wanted to find out _what_ this confusing feeling was, it was better to leave it alone, at least for now.

_It’ll all work itself out eventually, and it’ll be back to where it should be._

_No confusion, no mess, just simplicity._

And even though she could not convince herself of that in the slightest, she ignored the nagging feeling anyway, and left the room where Nat had gone a few moments earlier.

***

It was a quiet night, not even the sound of crickets could be heard.

Maeve was sitting on the roof, staring up at the stars. It had become something that she did more and more frequently, even though it was not something that she would have done often before.

And the reason for this change?

Morgan

The woman had been in her thoughts more often than not recently, not like she would ever complain about that.

It was almost crazy to her now that she really had not clicked with Morgan when they met officially at first, but she had decided to keep flirting with her, because why not? She certainly made things interesting.

And perhaps there was something that intrigued Maeve about her, like a puzzle that she could not yet solve.

The two of them were on the warehouse roof, somewhere that they had ended up most of the time without ever really planning to, as if drawn up there.

Silence could be all that there was between them, but that hardly mattered, it was more then enough to be there with her.

_There with her_

Part of her knew what she was becoming to her, there had been hints of it before, but it was much easier to push it down and act like that never happened.

For now, what they had was enough.

_But will it be forever?_

Sighing at the thought, she turned to Morgan, who she found was already looking back at her, and her lips curved into a smirk at the sight of it.

“Can’t look away, can you, sunshine?”

Morgan rolled her eyes, but a flicker of amusement appeared in her steely grey eyes before disappearing again.

“What do you think, sweetheart?”

“You know what I think”, Maeve almost purred as she moved closer to her, her lips inches away from hers, “I could show you, if you like?”

“Not if I can’t first”, she whispered in response, before closing the gap between them and kissing her first.

It was always heavenly, passionate, every time feeling like the fire between them would only burn brighter, and yet there was a softness. As in the faint brushings of a new love, quiet words in between them.

Need, and the desire for more

So much more

The two of them slowly broke apart, each one of them gazing into each other’s eyes, both waiting for one of them to say something and not making that first move themselves.

“What are you thinking about?”, Maeve suddenly whispered, to which Morgan’s smirk seemed to grow at that, but there was a smile as well, more genuine then she had ever seen it.

“You can’t seem to get out of mind lately”, she said, and even though she did not fully understand, her insides seemed to flutter at that.

“Well lucky me”, she grinned in return, “Because I can’t seem to get you out of my head either”

Before Maeve could say another word, her lips got caught in a kiss once again, as if Morgan was pleased that the feeling was mutual, even as much as that surprised her.

_I’ll take it._

The two of them eventually broke apart, and she looked back up at the stars, bright and numerous as ever, making a smile catch her lips, and she turned to Morgan, the two of them staring at each other like they were the only two people in the world.


	20. Nate and Amir- Summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Nate and Amir Amadoro (@vienocalledmebuddy's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #36 "Tell me I'm wrong"
> 
> Hope I did him justice! :D

There was one question that Amir used to ask himself, which at one point would always end up being a no, thinking it was ridiculous for even thinking it, but now?

_Does a fairytale type love even exist?_

It was something that he would have scoffed at before, since he had never happened to him, had it? It certainly was not anything that he had with Bobby, especially looking back now, and it was harder to pinpoint in other people’s lives, so that did not seem to answer anything either.

That type of love was made for stories, since it could not survive in the real world, the real world being too jaded and dark for that type to occur, as unfair as that could be.

But now, he was wondering whether he had been wrong about that, and that was all because of one person.

_Nate_

From the moment that they met, there was something different about him, something that Amir could not place. Then, he had rationalized it as him just being different from the rest of his team, even if he did say that he was “more like them then he cared to admit”.

Little did he know just what he would end up meaning to him, but it was hardly something that he was going to complain about now, and as cheesy as it sounded to him, he made everything seem brighter when Nate was around.

And as the months had gone by after the team had to leave after Murphy, he had missed him more then he thought he would, and he knew he would. He was ready for them to be back, almost starting to count the days once Rebecca finally told him the day that Unit Bravo would be returning to Wayhaven, and even though part of him was worried that whatever was going on between them would have died out, Amir pushed that away. There was no use getting worked up over it, and he would have to find out when it actually happened.

It had been quite the relief to him to find what was stirring between them had not died, but on the contrary, stronger than it had been before. It was enough to send a wide grin on his face, one that had not completely died since then.

And over the time that Unit Bravo had been back in Wayhaven, a deep seeded hope started to fill him, one that they would finally put a name on the feelings on what was already happening between them, make it official in that sense.

The first sign of this that Amir had was when Nate had asked for if he wanted to go on an actual date, and even though there was not doubt in his mind when he said yes, he was drawn in by the way that even though it was obvious something that Nate wanted, he was still considerate to his own feelings and wants, and it had been something had made him fall for him even more.

He had just been so incredibly kind to him and everyone that he come across, and that something that he found that he admired, and something that he himself wished he was better at showing more openly than he normally did.

But he was ready for that relationship as soon as Nate brought it up on the Ferris wheel, and ever since then, it was like he was walking on sunshine, with no fall in sight.

Their first month of dating had been everything he could have ever wanted and so much more, feeling more at ease around him then he felt with anyone else, with only bright eyes on what the future might bring.

Summer had come to Wayhaven, the heat continuing to prick at his skin, but that was hardly what he was really concerned himself with.

Nate was standing next to him as the two walked together around downtown, having shed his leather jacket and now wearing a green button-down shirt, the sleeves pulled up and the top buttons undone that showed part of his chest.

He was towering over him like he always did, and most of the people that passed by as well, his face never leaving Amir’s, a smile evident on his face, as it seemed there was whenever the two were together.

In the silence that had suddenly had passed between them, a break in the conversation, he suddenly got an idea, “So Nate, in one sentence, how do think you’d describe me?”

Chuckling at that, Nate’s brown eyes seemed to glimmer, “Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t know”, he shrugged, “Thought it would be interesting”

“Well,”, he began in response, “I’d say you’re an incredibly straightforward person who isn’t afraid to let others know what he thinks”

The faint hints of a smirk filled his face as he continued, “And you’re also intimidatingly handsome”

Amir could feel a flush start to climb up his neck at that, but he did his best to play it off, “Of course I am. Was there any doubt?”

“ Absolutely not”, Nate said firmly, “How would describe me though? I’m frankly curious”

“You know”, he replied, a sly grin starting to slide over his face, “I don’t think I need a whole sentence to describe you”

“Oh?”

“Yep”, Amir nodded, “All I need is one word”

Nate’s eyebrows raised in anticipation, and the slyness of his own smile only grew.

“Tall”

“Tall?”, Nate asked in response, amusement starting to fill his face, “There’s nothing else you think could describe me?”

“What?”, he said in mock offense, “You’re not going to tell me I’m wrong about that, are you? You’re so tall that anyone would be able to pick you out in crowd, and you would bang your head on my office doorway if you did not bend down. You’re tall”

“I suppose I can’t argue with that”, Nate gave a smile, taking the statement with as good faith as he always did with his teasing.

“And well, you’re also always effortlessly charming and amazing with words”, Amir went on, “But that doesn’t fit with the single word”

He seemed to accept that answer, laughing slightly, “That was quite a good way to end that”

“You know it was”, he gave a wink in return, and before either of them could say anything else, he felt the slightest chirp from his phone, which he pulled out.

“It’s Adam”, he sighed, not being able to suppress a sigh, “He wants us back to the station”

Nate smiled anyway, seeming unbothered by it, “Well, then we need to head back then”

Leaning down to Amir’s height, he gently whispered in his ear, “There will be time to finish this later”

“You promising me that?”

“You think you know the answer”, he said in response, giving him the slightest kiss on his temple before lightly taking his hand in his, and he led the two of them down the cobbled streets.

Summer had never quite felt so sweet, and it was something that Amir wanted to bottle up and keep forever, holding it close to his chest until the end of time. 


	21. Ava and Kip- Purity of Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Ava and Kip Griffith (@zyneryther's detective)
> 
> No prompt for this one, but I hope I did her justice!

It could almost be considered ironic, what Ava was able to draw out of her, all without even trying.

Kip had never been the best at trying to convey what was going on in her head, often second guessing herself, trying to form the exact right words that she needed to.

And while that often failed, the overthinking often getting the better of her, that was not an issue around her.

The thoughts were still there of course, but they were easier to ignore with Ava around. It was as her presence was almost comforting, even with as closed-off as she appeared to be.

Perhaps that was silly, since it never seemed like she felt the same way about that then Kip did, but the longer and longer she knew her, it was just becoming more and obvious that there was much more to her then what most people would bother to look for.

A hurting soul, one that had been numb long ago, shaped by a life that she knew nothing about. And as much as she knew that Ava tried to hide it, there it was, only more obvious as the months went on.

There was always a part of Kip that wanted to reach out, try anything at all that she did not have to face her memories alone, but it was always pulled back before she could get too far, in a fear that she would not react well if she did.

Sometimes, she wanted to ask the others about what she should do, since they had known her far longer than she did, right? But she would end up getting her silence anyway, almost begging, that one day, she’ll find the courage to do it.

Courage, however, that had just started to slowly build up after that night at the carnival. A magical night, as one straight out of a movie, perfect in every way. Hope had bloomed that night, as bright as Kip had ever known it, that finally, things would turn around for the better.

Unfortunately, that did not last long.

And it frustrated her, since what was she expecting really? For it all to finally make sense? For all of the back and forth with Ava to be resolved in a single night?

But the next day, the next _day_ , she acted as though they were just work colleagues, nothing more. The time that they had spent together, the quiet, comforting times? Gone as far as her eyes could see.

She was fine with being patient with her, Kip would do that again and again, as long as it took. But taking one step forward only to go back a mile… it was more then she knew how to take.

However, she kept it all tight and close to her chest anyway, the deep feelings, running as clear and fast as a raging river, would have to be hidden. Till she felt like she could show them again.

That bloom of hope, though? No matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she was getting ahead of herself and nothing would come out of it, it still was there, bent over from the weight, but still blooming anyway.

Kip had not spoken to Ava much the past month, and even if she was never the talkative sort, it still stung anyway, words that she would have never dreamed of saying before seeming to come to life on the edges of her lips.

Ava seeking herself out at first though, was quite the surprise to say the least.

Normally, if she had needed to see her, she would have told Nat to go find her, and then, very guardedly, tell her what she needed to, normally mission related, before leaving as to avoid the chance of saying anything else.

Tonight however, as she poured herself over some books that she had gotten from the library, Ava had come to her.

“Detective”

The sound of her title made Kip perk up from her books, recognizing the strong British accent, but almost believing that she was imagining it.

Both of them stared at each other for the next moment, as if both of them were unsure of what to say to each other, and she noticed that a strand of Ava’s hair had fallen out of her bun, resting on her shoulder, but she hardly seemed bothered by it, which was a surprise to say the least.

“Do you need something?”, she finally asked, in an effort to break the silence that had fallen between them.

Blinking at the silence broken, Ava turned away from her slightly, but she muttered, “I wanted to ask you about something”

“What about?”

And while the question itself would have seemed innocent enough, it seemed to affect her in a way once it was spoken, as if what she had come there to say was not actually what she was going to do.

“The mission ahead”, she finally said, the slightest bit of hesitation in her words, “What have you learned so far?”

Kip looked down at the books in front of her, which she and Nat had been pouring over to try and figure out more about this suspected supernatural sighting in Wayhaven, which had all been fascinating to her, and when something was really interesting to her, she could have a hard time stopping once she got started.

“That supernatural anatomy makes no sense at all”, she began, almost muttering out the first part, before hazel her eyes seemed to brighten, “A lot of you have blood, but you don’t need oxygen. So why do you have blood in the first place? I suppose that blood also carries the white blood cells needed to start the process of healing, but with your healing ability do you even need that? And don’t tell me it’s “magic” or whatever, magic is just unexplained science”

At the realization of what she had said, she could feel a flush burning on her face, and she averted her eyes from Ava’s, wishing that she could disappear on the spot.

What happened next, however, was the most unexpected thing that she could have ever think of.

A small bark of laughter came from Ava, and when Kip finally got the guts to look back into her eyes, there was an almost spark of amusement in her eyes.

“Sorry”, she muttered, starting to wring her hands together, “I didn’t mean to-“

“I see that you’ve learned quite a bit”, Ava gently interrupted, “Nat would be impressed”

Kip gave her a smile at that, even though she was a bit surprised by the easy moment between them, “I still haven’t found much about any specific that we need though”

“You will”

And even though her eyes widen at the firmness at those words, they filled her with more strength than she would ever be able to thank her for.

“Thanks Ava”

With a nod in return, she left the room, going back down through the dark corridors of the warehouse, and Kip watched as she went. Short as the interaction had been between them, she would hold it close to her anyway, remembering sweetly the confidence that she had seemed to have in her.

_I won’t let her down, or anyone else on the team._

Pulling the book back to her lap with a new found eagerness, a smile beamed on her face, one that she knew would not die for a long time.


	22. Nat and Maxine "Max"- Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nat and Maxine "Max" Larsen (@thesapphicgeek's detective)
> 
> Prompt- #1- "I've been waiting a long time"
> 
> Hope I did her justice! :D

Sometimes, the best things in life happened unexpectedly.

Which was something that Maxine had been told a couple of times over the course of her twenty-seven years on this earth, but she never had put much stock in it before.

And then what would had seemed so simple at the time would grow into something that had more weight and strength then she would ever be able to understand.

What was that hidden blessing exactly?

The arrival of Unit Bravo, that’s what.

It was still crazy of her to think just how special the team would become to her in the relatively short time they had been together, but that was hardly where it started, where she had been luckier than she would ever be to understand.

This feeling’s exact cause was easy to see, at least in Maxine’s eyes.

Agent Natalie Sewell, second of command in the Unit, and the woman who had seemed to grab her piece of her heart with a single gaze.

She had been intensely attracted to her almost from the first few moments that they met, and this attraction grew deeper into true feelings the more that she got to know her.

As if it was always meant to be, a deep flowing love that continued to just grow over the months that they knew each other, only helped by the recent founding of their relationship.

Starting it when they did was the easiest decision that she had ever made in her entire life. They both knew how deeply they felt for each other, why should they wait? There was so much left to explore in a relationship together, and it was something that she had never wanted more.

Now, it almost seemed silly just how shy she was when they had first met, since there was no reason to really be, and certainly not around Nat. It was so easy to feel comfortable around her, the more romantic side of herself that she had thought had long disappeared from her long ago coming back in full force.

Being with Nat had even brought back her love of books, well, the motivation to read again. Her love had never really left, but it had been pushed to the back of her mind, promising that she would pick on a book on a rainy day that never came. Often, with her job and the like, she had told herself that she was simply too tired to do so, but now, she looked to make time, in any way she could.

Talking with her about them was the push that Maxine needed, a push that she had wholeheartedly adored. Trying to find what she would think that Nat would like in return, going over her small bookshelf in her apartment, doing her best to carefully select one, as if giving her a piece of her soul in return.

And perhaps of speaking of showing her soul, maybe that was why she had invited her over to her place in the first place, the dark colored furniture and metallic pieces giving the room a cool feeling, almost like a cave, but it had always had a comforting feeling to her.

Having Nat in her space was something that she wanted, as if a sign of trust for her, and it only seemed fitting just how naturally she fit there, as if she had been here forever.

The lazy afternoon sun was just starting to peak through the windows, adding much more to the room then Maxine would have ever originally thought it would.

It was something that she would have never would have noticed before, but perhaps there was wisdom in looking for the small things in life, being perhaps the sweetest.

_Speaking of the sweetest…_

She had waited so long to find someone like Nat, not even really realizing that she was doing so. A part of her had believed that it was simply way too far out of her reach, even if she was not aware of that side until recently.

But now however…

No looking was needed, just simply her being _there_ in the right place at the exact time that she needed her, just never knew it.

And now indeed she was here, right before her, curls of her dark brown hair framing the kind features of her face, her long eyelashes gracefully over her gentle eyes as she read the book in front of her, and it was all that she could to just sit and _marvel_ at her, a smile seeming to cover her face without Maxine even needing to think about it.

Sliding next to her on the couch next to her, to which Nat perked up as she did so, and while she said nothing at all, it was amazing all that she could say in a simple eyebrow raise and the slightest quirk of her lips.

“You’ve been thinking about something”, she said, the almost elegant refinance of her voice still there, moving her head closer to hers until it was almost resting onto hers.

“I suppose I was”, Maxine replied, closing the small gap between them, “But I suppose that we always thinking about something, are we not?”

Nat actually chuckled at that, “I can’t argue with that”

A flash of seriousness came over her face as she gazed back into her eyes, “Do you want to know what’s been on my mind recently?”

“You know I do”

“There has something that has occurred to me recently, something that I think I can put in words”, she began.

“And that is?”

“I’ve been waiting a long time for you”

Maxine blinked in surprise, but she tried to hide it as best as she could, feeling all words die on her tongue, silently wishing she could just as good with her words as Nat was.

“And now that we have each other, I won’t let anything tear us apart”, she promised, a weight to her voice that had her believing every word.

With no idea what to say that could possibly put her feelings in any rational order, she leaned further to kiss her, hoping that was enough.

From the way that Nat leaned back into it, the answer was more then enough for her to know exactly what she meant by it all, the comfortable bliss all that the two of them needed.


	23. Nat and Eden- Thinking of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request- Nat and Eden Hollis (@wayhavns's detective)
> 
> Prompt:- "What are you thinking about?"
> 
> Hope I did them justice! :D

Detective Eden Hollis was bored.

Absolutely, hopelessly, bored.

Piles of paperwork had started to collect on their desk, but it was the last thing they were interested in. _Especially_ for a job that they got because it was a so much better alternative to jail time. (Something that they wondered sometimes if it truly was)

But that had stopped their job at the station to be the most uninteresting thing in the world, something they had found out after their years as an officer. Each day had seemed to drag on forever, the only bright spot in it all was Tina and Verda, even if he had only been in Wayhaven for a few months.

Then suddenly, they were a detective, somehow being promoted, and after watching Detective Reele work and shadowing her for a few days, Eden was sure that being a detective was going to be just as uneventful, regardless on how they felt about getting promoted.

That however, had turned out to be so wrong. Their life quite literally seemed to be turned on it’s head so soon after it had been made official, but they tried their best to take it all in stride, even if that could be hard at times.

And the hard part of it all? What still managed to make their blood boil without barely even having to think about it?

Their mother, if she even deserved to be called that at all.

Rebecca had, after their entire childhood had already ended, had just decided to _show up_ out of nowhere, and had the _audacity_ of trying to insert herself back into their life again, with the notion that now that they knew everything, a closer bond could be formed.

Screw that however. It was far too little too late, the years of loneliness never seeming too far from their mind. Eden had tried to make bonds with others in their neighbors and friends at school, but nothing that they had done had filled the void that was left by never knowing their father, or really, their own mother.

Any offer to patch their relationship was pointless, since there was nothing to fix if there was nothing there in the first place. Rebecca had made her choice years ago, and she would have to live with that. It was far too late to change her mind now.

If that was all that had come with being a detective, they could absolutely take that all back, needing none of that, but that was hardly the only thing had seemed to crop up with becoming a detective.

_And having them here, would make me much less bored._

Unit Bravo of course, who had all “crashed about” into their life, entering it in an almost whirlwind, but it would never being something that they would take back.

The four of them were easy to be around, that enough of surprise to Eden. It was hard to say now what they would have been doing now if they had never met them, since now they all seemed like a permanent fixture in their life.

Felix had always been easy to talk to, making them feel like apart of the team even when it could be argued that they were not (at least, then anyway). Even if he did bring out their dare devil side more then anyone, that was not something that they were going to complain about, even if the others did!

With Mason, even though he could be as prickly as a cactus at times, there was so much more to them then that exterior that he constantly tried to put out. His loyalty to other members of the team was still something that surprised them at times, but the most they got to know them, it almost seemed obvious, and Eden could not believe they had completely overlooked it.

And there was Ava, at which the thought of annoying her was enough to bring a smile to their face, certainly making her far less bored. It was not like she entirely meant to do it at first, but she had always made it so damn _easy_ to do. On day, they were sure, they would get her to laugh just like they were able to get Nat and Felix to laugh, it just had not happened yet.

But Nat, oh _Nat_ was on a whole different level.

Never in all of their life had they meant someone like her, or ever thought they would. Someone that seemed to see them, appreciate them for who they were, rather on who they could be. It was more then they could have ever wished for, and goodness was it sweet.

They could spend hours and hours with her and absolutely never get bored, and Eden was someone who could get bored fairly quickly. Heck, Natarino could read her paperwork out loud to them, and they adore it anyway, her soothing voice all that was needed, even if it would still never get done.

Even so she was not here, just thinking about her was all that they needed for a distraction, a smile seeming to lift their face, their newly founded relationship always finding a way to make even the dullest part of their day to seem brighter.

In fact, they had been so distracted, that they hardly noticed that Nat had entered their office at all, closing the door behind her gently as if it would disturb them if she did.

A light chuckle suddenly reached their ears, and Eden turned to see her, her brown eyes alight with amusement, “What are you thinking about, dearheart?”

And oh, the _petname_. As if she just _knew_ exactly how to make them swoon. They were no short in boldness themselves, the two of them together always seeming to be right on the same page. Even though they may have not been an easy one to make flush, Nat certainly brought that out of them, and it always left them to wonder if she just knew the effect that she had on them.

“What makes you ask that?”

“You look awfully focused about something”, she said in response, her smile only seeming to shine brighter, “And I’m guessing it’s not the paperwork”

“10 points to you, Natmiester!”, Eden exclaimed, their tone slipping into its joking way, “You’ve guessed correctly!”

She laughed at that, it making the edges of her eyes crinkle in softness, “Then what were you thinking about?”

“You want to find out?”, they asked, getting up from their desk and walking over to Nat, who always made them look tinier than she already was.

Before she could say another word, Eden did their best to stand on their tiptoes to kiss her, not quite making it there, having to trust Nat would lean down the rest of the way.

Which it would seem, she had no problem doing.

The two of them met in a kiss, that was more then enough for an answer, and it seemed to alight for them both.

_I’m always thinking of you._

It vaguely came to Eden that they had never actually asked why Nat was here in the first place, but that seemed like the least most important thing in the world at the moment.

All that mattered was that she was _here_ , and there was nothing else in the world that mattered more.


End file.
